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Analogical transfer in young children: Analogies as tools for communication and exposition
Author(s) -
Brown Ann L.,
Kane Mary Jo,
Long Carolyn
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.2350030402
Subject(s) - exposition (narrative) , psychology , mimicry , cognitive psychology , test (biology) , cognitive science , developmental psychology , simple (philosophy) , transfer (computing) , transfer of training , transfer problem , epistemology , computer science , ecology , literature , international trade , business , biology , philosophy , parallel computing , art
Children's ability to transfer what they learn in one situation to analogous problems was examined in a series of four studies. Subjects ranged in age from 3 to 10 years. The problems involved novel uses of familiar tools or simple biological themes such as mimicry as a method of defence. The data suggest that the apparent transfer reluctance shown by children in previous studies is the result of what they have been required to learn and the conditions under which they have been required to learn it. In the present studies, children as young as 3 years transferred readily if the problem domain was one they understood and engaged in, and if the traditional laboratory paradigm was modified so as to promote transfer rather than just to test for its spontaneous occurrence.