Sequence effects in solving knowledge-rich problems: The ambiguous role of surface similarities

Abstract : Sequence effects are said to occur whenever the problem solving performance varies as a function of the order in which problems are solved. We present a framework that explain sequence effects as a result of (a) learning during solving a problem and of (b) transferring the learned content on succeeding problems. In two experiments we studied the ambiguous influence of surface similarities among structurally dissimilar knowledge-rich problems on sequence effects. These experiments demonstrate that surface similarities may either foster performance by enabling learning during problem solving or lead to negative transfer depending on whether problem solvers are already aware of the structural features of the problems prior to solving them or not. (http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/CSJarchive/Proceedings/2003/pdfs/198.pdf)