The role of content and abstract information in analogical transfer.

Abstract

Analogical transfer in problem solving is one example of analogical cognition, which also includes schemata mediate transfer (K. J. Holyoak, 1984a, 1985) or that problem solving by means of analogy is accomplished through application of the formal or deep structural characteristics of one problem to another (D. Centner, 1983, 1989). More recently, exemplar-based accounts (D. L. Medin&B. H. Ross, 1989; B. H. Ross, 1987) have emphasized problem content and exemplar-specific details in the various stages of transfer. The present article reviews research on analogical transfer and analyzes the theoretical models in light of this evidence. An adequate theory of analogical transfer must account not only for the use of schematic knowledge but also for the importance of surface informa-tion in all stages of transfer (Reeves & Weisberg, 1993a). As such, it will be a hybrid of the various models presented, with exemplar-based models such as that of B. H. Ross as a base. In many domains, the goal of learning and of teaching is to inculcate knowledge of abstract scientific or mathematical rules (Nisbett, Fong, Lehman, & Cheng, 1987). This learning is typi-cally preceded by a stage in which specific problems, rather than

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