Purpose of the Study

1. Higher-order Structure and Relational Reasoning: Contrasting Analogical and Thematic Relations. Goswami, U. & Borwn, A. L.; Cognition, v36 n3, p207-226, 1990. -- reviewed by Xiaoqiu Xu, 5/27/09 • Purpose of the Study • To challenge the generally accepted notion that reasoning by analogy is a developmentally sophisticated skill. Method • Experiment 1: • 20 4-year-olds, 20 5-year-olds, and 20 9-year-olds; • In one session they received the Analogy condition (a:b::c:?), in the other the Thematic Control condition (c:?); • In each condition the children were required to select one picture from four alternatives (analogy, thematic, category match, appearance match) for 10 picture sequences. • Procedure: prediction, selection, justification (selection, justification); • Half received Analogy condition first and half received thematic condition first. • Experiment 2: 22 4-year-olds; exactly the same as Experiment 1 except that the children were only offered a choice between responses Analogy and Thematic. Results Reasoning by analogy is an important building block in learning from a very early age: 1. Children of all ages were able to solve the analogies correctly, and that the ability to do so improved with age; 2. Transfer effect was found in two older groups: Children who received Analogy condition first were more likely to choose the analogy response in the thematic control condition; 3. The 4-year-olds are not very good at predicting the correct solution to the analogies, but once they are shown the possible completion pictures for the analogies, performance improves dramatically. Four-year olds require more prompting than older children in order to display this understanding. • Strengths • Did not rely on the verbal or written presentation of the analogy problems, but picture; more appropriate for the age groups • Carefully designed procedure of experiment: prediction, selection and justification. • Significance of the study: reasoning by analogy is an important building block in learning from a very early age. • Weaknesses: • Experimenter error: the 5-year-olds only received nine picture sequences in each condition • In experiment 2, the transfer effect cannot be proved because some kids responded in the justification part: “Because I did it last time.”