| Prior research has suggested that acquisition of problem solving skill may involve mechanisms similar to those of other skill learning (Groff, 1992; Saint Cyr, Taylor, & Lang, 1988; Trepanier, 1989). Theories of skill learning often proceed from the assumption that one learns skilled performance as a sort of habit (Anderson, 1983; Fitts & Posner, 1967) and are often embraced by labels such as implicit learning (Reber, 1989) and procedural learning (Nissen, 1992). Recent criticisms of the implicit learning literature have suggested a conflation between the notions of automaticity St. John, 1994). The current studies attempt to disentangle the issues of transfer conditions respectively on the standard Tower of Toronto problem solving task.; In the first experiment, subjects demonstrated preserved learning in each of four transfer conditions: an additional five trials identical to the learning set; five trials of a size coded puzzle; five trials with the second peg as the goal; or five trials solving the puzzle backwards. This suggested The second experiment involved learning to solve the puzzle during ten trials under one of four interference conditions based upon the Stroop task (MacLeod, 1991; Stroop, 1935): no interference; congruent colour and size coding; inverse colour and size coding; and randomly shuffled colour and size coding. Subjects learned to solve the puzzle equally well under all four interference conditions, though the congruent condition did speed performance. This suggests that learning the puzzle proceeds, at least in part, automatically, without demand for conscious attentional resources.; The third experiment tested subjects in one of four conditions, based upon the extremes of the above two experiment. The presence of interference during learning had no impact upon subjects ability to transfer their learning, thus demonstrating the independence of these issues in this context.; The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of traditional theories of problem solving, procedural and implicit learning, and neuropsychology of skill learning. Future directions are suggested. |
