This study examines the generalizability of cognitive skills across varying domains by comparing the predictiveness of an everyday skill (weaving) and formal schooling for performance on four pattern continuation tests varying in their similarity to weaving and schooling. The subjects were 79 adult Navajo women from the eastern area of the Navajo reservation. Their schooling varied from 0 to 16 years and their skill in weaving ranged from nonweaver to expert. Multiple regression analyses indicated that weaving skill was the best predictor of performance on the task resembling weaving, as expected, but schooling experience did not predict performance on the task designed to resemble schooling after subject's age was controlled. The results call into question the notion that what is learned in particular experiences automatically improves skills in general.
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