Transfer of training and its effect on learning curves

Abstract

The Newell and Rosenbloom (1981) depiction of the power law of learning implies that improvements in task performance that result from practice can be described by a power function with one variable for amount of practice. We suggest that performance on all but the simplest of tasks relies on component skills that differ in their practice history. As a result, power functions with one term for practice could not be expected to provide accurate descriptions of learning curves. In particular, transfer situations that involve a mixture of old and new skills are likely to lead to perturbations in learning curves that require more than the simple version of the power law to describe. We explore the types of functions that are necessary in these situations and note the impact of transfer factors on learning rates.

Keywords

• Power law
• Transfer of learning