Open AccessInhibitory control during selective retrieval may hinder subsequent analogical thinking
Author(s) -
Tania M. Valle,
Carlos J. GómezAriza,
M. Teresa Bajo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0211881
Subject(s) - analogical reasoning , analogy , unconscious mind , working memory , set (abstract data type) , cognition , cognitive science , computer science , cognitive psychology , focus (optics) , adaptation (eye) , encoding (memory) , inhibitory control , episodic memory , control (management) , artificial intelligence , psychology , neuroscience , epistemology , philosophy , physics , psychoanalysis , optics , programming language
Analogical reasoning is a complex cognitive activity that involves access and retrieval of pre-existing knowledge in order to find a suitable solution. Prior work has shown that analogical transfer and reasoning can be influenced by unconscious activation of relevant information. Based on this idea, we report two experiments that examine whether reduced access to relevant information in memory may further disrupt analogical reasoning unwittingly. In both experiments, we use an adaptation of the retrieval practice paradigm [ 1 ] to modulate memory accessibility of potential solutions to a subsequent set of analogy problems of the type ‘A is to B as C is to ?’. Experiment 1 showed a retrieval-induced impairment in analogical problem solving. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and demonstrated that it cannot be due to the deliberative episodic retrieval of the solutions to the analogies. These findings, predictable from an inhibitory framework of memory control, provide a new focus for theories of analogical transfer and highlight the importance of unconscious memory processes that may modulate problem solving.