INDUCTION OF RELATIONAL SCHEMAS - COMMON PROCESSES IN REASONING AND COMPLEX LEARNING

Five experiments were performed to test whether participants induced a coherent representation of the structure of a task, called a relation al scheme, from specific instances. Properties of a relational schema include: An explicit symbol for a relation, a binding that preserves t he truth of a relation, potential for higher-order relations, omnidire ctional access, potential for transfer between isomorphs, and ability to predict unseen items in isomorphic problems. However relational sch emas are not necessarily coded in abstract form. Predictions from rela tional schema theory were contrasted with predictions from configural learning and other nonstructural theories in five experiments in which participants were taught a structure comprised of a set of initial-st ate,operator --> end-state instances. The initial-state,operator pairs were presented and participants had to predict the correct end-state. Induction of a relational schema was achieved efficiently by adult pa rticipants as indicated by ability to predict items of a new isomorphi c problem. The relational schemas induced showed the omnidirectional a ccess property, there was efficient transfer to isomorphs, and structu ral coherence had a powerful effect on learning. The ''learning to lea rn'' effect traditionally associated with the learning set literature was observed, and the long-standing enigma of learning set acquisition is explained by a model composed of relational schema induction and s tructure mapping. Performance was better after reversal of operators t han after shift to an alternate structure, even though the latter enta iled more overlap with previously learned tasks in terms of the number of configural associations that were preserved. An explanation for th e reversal shift phenomenon in terms of induction and mapping of a rel ational schema is proposed. The five experiments provided evidence sup porting predictions from relational schema theory, and no evidence was found for configural or nonstructural learning theories. (C) 1998 Aca demic Press.