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Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay

Solving problems that are perceptually dissimilar but require similar solutions is a key skill in everyday life. In adults, this ability, termed analogical transfer, draws on memories of relevant past experiences that partially overlap with the present task at hand. Thanks to this support from long-...

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Autores principales: Bobrowicz, Katarzyna, Lindström, Felicia, Lindblom Lovén, Marcus, Psouni, Elia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7573132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33123052
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573730
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author Bobrowicz, Katarzyna
Lindström, Felicia
Lindblom Lovén, Marcus
Psouni, Elia
author_facet Bobrowicz, Katarzyna
Lindström, Felicia
Lindblom Lovén, Marcus
Psouni, Elia
author_sort Bobrowicz, Katarzyna
collection PubMed
description Solving problems that are perceptually dissimilar but require similar solutions is a key skill in everyday life. In adults, this ability, termed analogical transfer, draws on memories of relevant past experiences that partially overlap with the present task at hand. Thanks to this support from long-term memory, analogical transfer allows remarkable behavioral flexibility beyond immediate situations. However, little is known about the interaction between long-term memory and analogical transfer in development as, to date, they have been studied separately. Here, for the first time, effects of age and memory on analogical transfer were investigated in 2–4.5-olds in a simple tool-use setup. Children attempted to solve a puzzle box after training the correct solution on a different looking box, either right before the test or 24 h earlier. We found that children (N = 105) could transfer the solution regardless of the delay and a perceptual conflict introduced in the tool set. For children who failed to transfer (N = 54) and repeated the test without a perceptual conflict, the odds of success did not improve. Our findings suggest that training promoted the detection of functional similarities between boxes and, thereby, flexible transfer both in the short and the long term.
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spelling pubmed-75731322020-10-28 Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay Bobrowicz, Katarzyna Lindström, Felicia Lindblom Lovén, Marcus Psouni, Elia Front Psychol Psychology Solving problems that are perceptually dissimilar but require similar solutions is a key skill in everyday life. In adults, this ability, termed analogical transfer, draws on memories of relevant past experiences that partially overlap with the present task at hand. Thanks to this support from long-term memory, analogical transfer allows remarkable behavioral flexibility beyond immediate situations. However, little is known about the interaction between long-term memory and analogical transfer in development as, to date, they have been studied separately. Here, for the first time, effects of age and memory on analogical transfer were investigated in 2–4.5-olds in a simple tool-use setup. Children attempted to solve a puzzle box after training the correct solution on a different looking box, either right before the test or 24 h earlier. We found that children (N = 105) could transfer the solution regardless of the delay and a perceptual conflict introduced in the tool set. For children who failed to transfer (N = 54) and repeated the test without a perceptual conflict, the odds of success did not improve. Our findings suggest that training promoted the detection of functional similarities between boxes and, thereby, flexible transfer both in the short and the long term. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-10-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7573132/ /pubmed/33123052 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573730 Text en Copyright © 2020 Bobrowicz, Lindström, Lindblom Lovén and Psouni. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Bobrowicz, Katarzyna
Lindström, Felicia
Lindblom Lovén, Marcus
Psouni, Elia
Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay
title Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay
title_full Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay
title_fullStr Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay
title_full_unstemmed Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay
title_short Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay
title_sort flexibility in problem solving: analogical transfer of tool use in toddlers is immune to delay
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7573132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33123052
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573730
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