Effects of Distractor Problems and Hints on Transfer and Classification by Young Children (Learning, Preschool, Interference)
Crisafi, Maria Ann
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69674
Description
Title
Effects of Distractor Problems and Hints on Transfer and Classification by Young Children (Learning, Preschool, Interference)
Author(s)
Crisafi, Maria Ann
Issue Date
1986
Department of Study
Psychology
Discipline
Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Psychology, Developmental
Abstract
Factors affecting the young preschool child's ability to notice problem similarity and transfer a rule across analogous problems were examined. The problem analogs differed in their surface appearance, but shared common relations for goal and solution. The target problems were drawn from a domain which required the combination of separately learned pieces of information in a new way to reach a goal. When the difficult transfer problem was directly preceded by the relevant analogs, 4 year olds produced the correct solution, in contrast to children who did not receive the prior learning experience. To examine whether 4 year olds could continue to use relational information in the face of competing physical attributes, the target problems were embedded in a sequence with distractor problems. The distractors shared the surface features of one of the target problems, but involved a different goal and solution.
The main findings of this research were that: (a) 4 year olds, but not 3 year olds, demonstrate unaided transfer when the relevant problems are presented together in a sequence; (b) the inclusion of complex distractor tasks disrupts transfer, whereas the inclusion of simple distractors does not; (c) hints are effective in helping children notice problem similarity and thereby promote transfer in the mixed problem series; and (d) categorization of the problems is consistent with transfer performance, and is useful as an indication of the child's representation of the two problem types.
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