On the relation between similarity and transfer of training in the learning of discriminative motor tasks.

An analysis is presented of the kind and amount of transfer to be expected when an individual learns a first task and then proceeds to a second task in which certain types of alterations have been made. The kind of learning task considered is discriminative motor learning, in which a number of different responses to a number of different stimuli must be acquired. It is contended that the alterations which may be made from one task of this sort to another are most clearly stated in terms of the similarities among the stimuli and among the responses of each task. In other words, the stimuli of the second task may be made more similar, or less similar, to each other than the stimuli of the first task; and likewise the responses of a second task may be made more similar, or less similar, to each other than are the responses of the first task. Still another kind of alteration which is described involves changing the stimulus-response relationships from one task to another. This means that the individual is required to learn in the second task associations which are the reverse of those learned in the first task. That is, where he has learned in the first task the associations Stimulus 1 -- Response 1 and Stimulus 2 -- Response 2, he is required in the second task to learn Stimulus 1 -- Response 2 and Stimulus 2 -- Response 1. (Author)