Preventing inert knowledge: Category status promotes spontaneous structure-based retrieval of prior knowledge.

Abstract

Analogical comparison of 2 provided cases promotes spontaneous analogical transfer by encouraging a more abstract representation of a target principle. This is widely understood as a process of schema abstraction that aids retrieval from memory in the absence of superficial similarity. The category status hypothesis states that if knowledge about a target principle is represented as a relational category, it is easier to activate as a result of categorizing (as opposed to cue-based reminding). To investigate these 2 pathways to spontaneous transfer (schema retrieval vs. categorization), participants were assigned to different study conditions: (a) standard comparison of 2 analogs; (b) standard comparison followed by a second comparison of 2 new analogs; or (c) a guided Category-building task based on a foundation of sequential summarization with additional categorization supports. Experiment 1 showed improved spontaneous transfer in the Category-building task relative to Single-comparison—the gold standard for encouraging spontaneous transfer. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the Category-building task led to more frequent spontaneous structure-based retrieval than either comparison-based task. This suggests that the transfer improvements observed in Experiment 1 are attributable to the Category-building task making superficially dissimilar prior knowledge more accessible. Experiments 3a and 3b tested alternative explanations of this finding and provided evidence that the effectiveness of the Category-building task arises from encouraging the construal of a target principle as a relational category. These findings support categorization as a critical factor in explaining successful spontaneous analogical retrieval and toward instructional approaches that promote portable rather than inert knowledge.

Promoting Complex Problem Solving by Introducing Schema-Governed Categories of Key Causal Models

“…Similarly, Markman and Ross [ 85 ] argued that building a true and rich category representation requires not only classification tasks that foster distinguishing between categories, but also inference tasks that promote the understanding of the internal relations among category features. Nonetheless, the acquisition of abstract schemata and practicing to classify novel situations as instances of a particular schema-governed category seems to be a fruitful way to make knowledge more accessible and transfer more likely once a conceptual understanding is acquired [ 54 , 55 , 81 ]. Therefore, we suggest that the inclusion of classification exercises in educational programs would be a useful addition to traditional teaching if the goal is to be able to apply what is learned later in relevant situations [ 54 ].…”

“…The task was to sort each statement card to the matching key causal model by placing it under the according label. We included this task to boost the formation of schema-governed categories in terms of category status [ 55 , 81 ]. Different to the card sorting task employed by Kurtz and Honke [ 55 ], we predefined the categories and provided participants with the causal model category labels.…”

La importancia de los ejemplos ilustrativos en el aprendizaje de conceptos declarativos

“…A pesar de su relevancia en la formación de analogías y en la transferencia de conocimiento, la investigación sobre la transferencia de categorías relacionales entre diversos campos de conocimiento es aún limitada. Sin embargo, varios estudios han comenzado a explorar este aspecto, destacando la necesidad de comprender mejor cómo se lleva a cabo este proceso (Honke y Kurtz, 2019;Kurtz et al, 2013;Kurtz y Honke, 2020;Patterson y Kurtz, 2014Rehder y Ross, 2001;Snoddy y Kurtz, 2017, 2021.…”

Cognition of relational discovery: why it matters for effective far transfer and effective education?

“…However, the strength and clarity of the relational representation are relevant factors in both cases. Kurtz and Honke (2020), Patterson and Kurtz (2020); and Snoddy and Kurtz (2021) have argued that far transfer requires the relational representation to reach category status, that is, the relation must be recognized as a known concept. What this affords for the learner is an efficient way to map specific instances of a given relation to a quickly identifiable category with known properties, rather than engaging in the potentially more effortful and error-prone process of generalizing from a series of less wellconnected memories of previous (relationally) similar experiences.…”

“…Relational concepts are rarely (if ever) completely independent of the featural context in which they are encountered. Indeed, it is likely that the specific featural contexts in which a relational category is first encountered are beneficial for its inception (Snoddy and Kurtz, 2021). Early in the learning of a concept, associations with specific stimuli may facilitate initial understanding but also help the learner recall the appropriate set of relational concepts while they are still developing or consolidating relational knowledge.…”