The generality of transfer: Effects of age and similarity of training and transfer tasks

Two experiments were conducted investigating the extent to which transfer of training would take place. The Ss were trained to attend to a particular dimension (color or form) of a set of stimuli and were then presented with a transfer problem. For half the Ss the transfer problem was an intradimensional (ID) shift, and for the remaining half an extradimensional (ED) shift, with the ID-ED difference then being used as an index of the magnitude of transfer. Previous data had indicated that preschool and kindergarten children did not effectively transfer learned attention responses from one task to another if the formats of the two problems were different. Experiment I investigated the hypothesis that older children would show broader patterns of transfer. However, the patterns obtained with second and fifth graders were extremely similar to those obtained with younger children. In Exp. II, it was found that transfer did take place across different task formats if the stimuli remained the same from training to transfer. The data were discussed in terms of the role of contextual cues, or context markers, in the origical acquisition of information and the subsequent transfer (use) of that information.     

The effect of overlearning on transfer of training

The effect of overlearning on transfer of training on the A-B:A-B_r paradigm was studied in paired-associate learning with meaningful material (adjective pairs). One group of subjects was trained to criterion on list A-B, and two additional groups were given 100 per cent and 200 per cent overlearning on list A-B. Rate of learning list A-B_r was found to be directly related to amount of overlearning. Negative transfer on list A-B_r was found for errors with the criterion group, while positive transfer was found for the 100 per cent and 200 per cent overlearning groups. The results were consistent with previous paired-associate experiments, and with results of some maze, reversal learning experiments with infrahuman subjects.

The notation “A-B:A-B_r” will be used for the transfer paradigm in which the same stimuli and responses are used in both the original acquisition phase of paired associate learning and in the subsequent transfer of training phase. In the transfer phase, however, the responses (i.e. B) are rearranged so that they are paired with different stimuli (i.e. A). The notation “A-B:A-C” will be used for the transfer paradigm in which a new set of responses (i.e. C) are paired with the old set of stimuli in the transfer of training phase.     

Phonemic-analysis training helps children benefit from spelling-sound rules

It has been frequently suggested that the ability to analyze spoken words into phonemes facilitates children’s learning of spelling-sound rules. This research attempts to demonstrate that link by showing that phonemic-analysis training helps children take advantage of spelling sound rules in learning to read. In two experiments, preschool and kindergarten prereaders participated in an analysis condition and a control condition on each of 4 test days. In the analysis condition, children learned to segment (and in Experiment 2, also to blend) selected spoken syllables. In the control condition, they merely repeated syllables. Children were then introduced to printed items that corresponded to the spoken syllables with which they had worked. The pronunciation of the “related” item could be deduced from those of other printed items in the set; the pronunciation of the “unrelated” item could not be so deduced. Both experiments revealed a significant interaction between condition (analysis vs. control) and item type (related vs. unrelated). In the control condition, children tended to make more errors on the related item than on the unrelated item; in the analysis condition, they tended to make fewer errors on the related item than on the unrelated item. These results suggest a causal link between the ability to analyze spoken syllables and the ability to benefit from spelling-sound relations in reading.     

Following navigation instructions presented verbally or spatially: Effects on training,retention and transfer

Two experiments investigated participants' ability to follow navigation instructions in a situation simulating communication between air traffic controllers and aircrews. A verbal condition, in which instructions were given orally, was compared with a spatial condition, in which commands were shown on a computer display as simulated movements, with the presentation times in the two conditions equated. Retention and transfer were studied a week later when participants performed in either the same or the other condition. In both sessions, participants' initial proportion correct was much higher in the spatial than in the verbal condition, but after three blocks, accuracy in the two conditions was equivalent. Retention was perfect when training and test conditions matched. Training in the verbal condition transferred to the spatial condition but not vice versa. Thus, there is evidence that participants' representations of the movements in the verbal and spatial conditions were not equivalent. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of implementation intentions on transfer of training

Two experiments investigated the effect of forming implementation intentions on transfer of training in two training programs. In the first experiment (N = 37), trainees who formed implementation intentions implemented active listening skills sooner, and to a greater degree, than those in the control group. In the second experiment (n = 28), conducted in the field, trainees who formed implementation intentions received a higher performance score for implementing the trained behavior compared with those in the control condition. Results from both experiments provide empirical evidence suggesting that forming implementation intentions at the end of a training program increases the likelihood of using the newly acquired skills.     

Effects of training on age estimation

This study examined the possibility to improve accuracy of age estimates through training. Thirty‐four participants were divided into an experimental and a control group. The sessions included a pre‐test before training, six feedback or no‐feedback training tests and a post‐test after training. The experimental group performed the feedback tests and the control group the no‐feedback tests. Training was found to improve age estimation accuracy, particularly estimations of old stimuli, and training with feedback seemed to be superior to training without feedback. No difference was found between the groups at pre‐test, but at post‐test the experimental group exhibited greater accuracy in age estimation. Moreover, the experimental group increased its accuracy between the pre‐ and post‐tests. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of training task stimuli on transfer effects of working memory training in aging

IntroductionWorking memory (WM) training is known to produce benefits in older adults’ WM. Transfer effects to untrained abilities, however, remain controversial and several aspects are thought to influence the generalization of benefits, including the kind of stimuli used in the training tasks, an aspect rarely addressed in older adults.ObjectiveThe present study had two aims: (1) to test the efficacy of a visuospatial WM training procedure in older adults, in terms of specific and transfer effects; (2) to examine in two experiments whether the type of stimuli used in the training task influences the training's effectiveness. Experiment 1 adopted images with a neutral valence while experiment 2 used emotionally positive images based on evidence that older adults tend to remember positive stimuli better. In both experiments, specific training-related gains in a visuospatial WM task (the criterion task) and transfer effects on measures of verbal WM, visuospatial short-term memory, processing speed and reasoning were examined. Maintenance of training benefits was also assessed at an 8-month follow-up.MethodSeventy older adult (63–75 years old) volunteers (35 for experiment 1, and 35 for experiment 2) were randomly assigned to a training or active control group. The same visuospatial WM training procedure was used in both experiments, manipulating only the type of stimuli used (neutral in experiment 1 and emotionally positive in experiment 2).ResultsIn both experiments, only trained participants showed specific benefits in the WM criterion task. These gains were also maintained at the follow-up, but no transfer effects were identified.ConclusionOverall, our findings using the present visuospatial WM training paradigm suggest that it is less effective, in terms of transfer effects, than the same paradigm administered verbally in a previous study, regardless of the type of stimuli used in WM training tasks (neutral or emotionally positive stimuli).     

认知训练对健康老年人认知能力的影响

近年来,认知训练被广泛应用于防治和延缓老年人的认知功能衰退。通过总结近7年(2008~2014年)关于老年人认知功能训练的研究,比较训练的有效性、训练效果的迁移和保持,结果表明,大部分实验都发现了积极的即时训练效果,训练效果得到保持的研究以认知控制和综合认知能力训练为主;大部分的迁移都集中在与流体智力联系较密切的认知功能如工作记忆和注意力等上;部分研究探索了认知功能提升的大脑神经可塑性基础。未来研究应进一步将行为训练与神经测量手段相结合考察训练效果的迁移与保持,更加注重个体差异的影响,并深入考察认知训练对日常生活能力的迁移。     

Problem-oriented training promotes spontaneous analogical transfer: Memory-oriented training promotes memory for training

Spontaneous analogical transfer is the use of information from one problem to solve another problem, without an explicit hint to use the previous information. The results of five experiments were that if subjects tried to solve a training problem before hearing its solution, or tried to explain a training story's solution before hearing the correct explanation, spontaneous transfer was more likely than it was if subjects had studied the same training passage for memory before hearing its solution or explanation. The advantage of problem-oriented processing over memory-oriented processing occurred even though solution attempts nearly always failed, and the advantage was not reduced if the target problem was tested 15 min later rather than immediately after training. We propose that problem-oriented processes performed at study are appropriate processes to use at test. Further support for the account comes from subjects' memory for the training passages; the advantage for problem-oriented processing on solution tasks was mirrored by an equally substantial advantage for the memory-oriented subjects on a recall task.     

Predicting transfer from training performance.

The research in this paper was designed to examine the extent to which improvement on a training task can be used to predict performance on a transfer task. This aim involved evaluating the proposition that when old skills are executed in the context of new tasks, they continue to improve as if stimulus conditions have not changed. That is, power functions that describe improvement on old skills during their initial acquisition should predict further improvement on these skills during their execution in new tasks. Three experiments were performed to achieve the aim of testing this proposition. Experiment 1 revealed that old skills were executed slower in the context of a new task than was predicted on the basis of training performance. Hence improvement in the old skills appeared to be disrupted by performance of the new task. Experiment 2 was designed to examine whether this disruption was due to an increase in complexity in the task from training to transfer, or simply due to any change in task. The results suggested that any change may cause some disruption, but this disruption was greatest with an increase in task complexity. Experiment 3 was designed to examine two variables that may affect the magnitude of this effect: the relative change in task complexity from training to transfer, and the amount of practice on a task prior to a change in task. The results indicated that only the former variable had any effect. In all three experiments no effects on performance accuracy were noted, and response times in the transfer tasks eventually returned to levels predicted by training learning functions. These results were interpreted as indicating that old skills do continue to improve in new tasks as if conditions are not altered, but that disruptions caused by transfer are related to performance overheads associated with reconceptualising the task.     

Visual perceptual learning by operant conditioning training follows rules of contingency

Visual perceptual learning (VPL) can occur as a result of a repetitive stimulus-reward pairing in the absence of any task. This suggests that rules that guide Conditioning, such as stimulus-reward contingency (e.g., that stimulus predicts the likelihood of reward), may also guide the formation of VPL. To address this question, we trained subjects with an operant conditioning task in which there were contingencies between the response to one of three orientations and the presence of reward. Results showed that VPL only occurred for positive contingencies, but not for neutral or negative contingencies. These results suggest that the formation of VPL is influenced by similar rules that guide the process of Conditioning.     

The effects of training and transfer on global/local processing

We investigated interference, inhibition and transfer effects associated with training on a global-local task. Participants received 10,080 training trials on identifying local features of global/local stimuli. Global processing advantage was eliminated with practice. Global interference decreased with training whereas local interference developed with training. Transfer analyses indicated that training produced stimulus-specific effects in local processing and task-specific effects in global processing. Our findings are discussed in regards to models of global/local processing.