Generalization and Transfer: An Interrelation of Paradigms and a Taxonomy of Knowledge Extension Processes

Abstract

This article integrates work on generalization and transfer into a coherent framework. It analyzes the evolutionary problem with which generalization deals and then outlines a model of responses to a situation requiring generalization and a taxonomy of generalization and transfer processes. Key tenets are that many different generalization processes exist, that there are wide individual differences in which processes may occur, and that generalization of declarative knowledge usually involves concepts. Three experiments tested 2 tenets. One experiment suggested that generalization gradients found in the specialized paradigm used to study human stimulus generalization simply represent failure to perceptually discriminate between stimuli. The other experiments, involving a different paradigm, found step functions along dimensions instead of decremental gradients. They show that the traditional stimulus generalization paradigm is a type of concept learning paradigm. Participants generalize along a continuum by placing stimuli into categories. The experiments also show many different responses to a situation requiring generalization.