ABSTRACT
This study investigated competition in analogical transfer to a problem solution. In two experiments, subjects read two stories, then attempted to solve Duncker's (1945) radiation problem, which has both a convergence and an open-passage solution. Stories were constructed that suggested each of these solutions; a third story was irrelevant. Subjects in the competitive conditions read both solution-suggesting stories, and subjects in the two noncompetitive conditions read one of these and the irrelevant story. In Experiment 1, the noncompetitive conditions convergence solutions and open-passage solutions were produced at comparable rates, but in the competitive condition, convergence solutions overwhelmed open-passage solutions. This asymmetry is too large to be explained by unidimensional models of retrieval and reflects the multidimensional nature of retrievability. In Experiment 2, the source stories suggesting each solution type were reversed, and the open-passage solution rate was higher than the convergence solution rate in all three conditions. In both experiments, subjects were able to successfully apply both source stories once cued to do so, indicating that the competition is at the retrieval stage of transfer, not at the mapping stage. Computational models of analogical transfer (e.g., ARCS and MAC/FAC) predict some competition but may have difficulty explaining the extreme nature of these results.
