TRANSFER OF TRAINING BETWEEN COGNITIVE SUBSKILLS - IS KNOWLEDGE USE SPECIFIC

The dominant theory of transfer of training is a theory of ''common el ements'' based on Anderson's ACT theory of skill acquisition (Singley & Anderson, 1989). In this theory, the knowledge acquired while learn ing a skill is encapsulated in procedures called production rules. Tra nsfer between tasks is predicted to occur to the extent that the two t asks share production rules or ''common elements.'' This leads to a pr inciple of ''use specificity of knowledge'' which makes the strong sta tement that knowledge acquired in the practice of one subskill (such a s writing a computer program) will not transfer to performance in a re lated subskill (such as understanding a computer program), even throug h the two subskills rest on a shared declarative knowledge base (such as definitions of programming language instructions) (McKendree & Ande rson, 1987). Our research provides a test of the ACT predictions of t ransfer and the use-specificity principle, when considering transfer b etween two subtasks within the acquisition of computer programming ski ll. First we provide detailed a priori transfer predictions based on a task analysis and production system simulation model of two programmi ng subtasks: the evaluation and generation of LISP instructions. Next, we present results from an empirical study of training and transfer b etween these two subtasks. Comparisons between empirical results and s imulation predictions reveal that there is substantially more transfer between subtasks than was predicted. In a final study we provide evid ence that these results are due to the elaboration of declarative know ledge. We conclude that the emphasis on procedural transfer currently dominating the skill acquisition literature overlooks important source s of transfer and overestimates the extent to which knowledge is use s pecific. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.