ABSTRACT
Students often rely on prior work or previously studied examples to help them solve their current problems. In this paper we investigate the relative contributions of easily accessed superficial similarity and deep, solution relevant, structural similarity to memory for prior problems. Some models of memory for analogy suggest that superficial similarity initially selects or constrains memory for prior examples and predicts that analogs that share both surface and structural similarities will be more likely noticed by novices. An experiment is reported in which subjects are observed as they learn how to program. We find that people remember the examples that are related in terms of structural features alone as frequently as those that are related in terms of both structural and superficial features but there is no advantage to having superficial similarities as well. Moreover, even though superficial features sometimes are associated with helpful similarities and sometimes associated with unhelpful similarities people still do not get misled by superficial similarity when that is the only basis for similarity. This finding suggests that models that require superficial similarity as a major selection procedure for analogical reminding may need to be modified for conditions in which people are learning a new skill.
