Maier's (1931) Two-String Problem Revisited: Evidence for Spontaneous Transfer?

Abstract

Transfer occurs when previous experiences facilitate problem solving, and often experimental subjects are explicitly informed of the connection between earlier source information and the target problem. Spontaneous transfer occurs when subjects are uninformed of the connection between events, yet benefit from the prior experience. Maier's two-string problem was used in four conditions: two conditions providing uninformed “hints” for target solution, one explicit hint condition, and a control condition. Two separate experiments indicated significant informed transfer when subjects were explicitly told to think of a pendulum, and a spontaneous transfer effect approached significance for subjects who saw the string swing during the instructions. The results are discussed in terms of the subtle yet consistent appearance of spontaneous transfer across many studies.