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Summary: Analogical
Transfer
in
Perceptual
Categorization
Michael B. Casale
University of California, San Diego Department of Psychology, 9500 Gilman Drive #0109
805-451-4794
(phone),
858-534-7190
(fax),
mcasale@ucsd.edu
Jessica L. Roeder & F. Gregory Ashby
University of California, Santa Barbara
Analogical
transfer
is
the
ability
to
transfer
knowledge
despite
significant
changes
in
the
surface
features
of
a
problem.
In
categorization,
analogical
transfer
occurs
if
a
classification
strategy
learned
with
one
set
of
stimuli
can
be
transferred
to
a
set
of
novel,
perceptually
distinct
stimuli.
Three
experiments
investigated
analogical
transfer
in
rule-based
and
information-integration
categorization
tasks.
In
rule-
based
tasks,
the
optimal
strategy
is
easy
to
describe
verbally,
whereas
in
information-integration
tasks
accuracy
is
maximized
only
if
information
from
two
or
more
stimulus
dimensions
is
integrated
in
a
way
that
is
difficult
or
impossible
to
describe
verbally.
In
all
three
experiments,
analogical
transfer
was
nearly
perfect
in
the
rule-based
conditions,
but
no
evidence
for
analogical
transfer
was
found
in
the
information-integration
conditions.
These
results
were
predicted
a
priori
by
the
COVIS
theory
of
categorization.
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