Inductive Reasoning Processes in Concept Learning

Traditionally, studies investigating the relationship between mental abilities tests and performance on learning tasks have attempted to establish a direct relationship between these two domains by use of factor analytic techniques. It is suggested that an alternative approach can be formulated in terms of an information processing analysis of both the test and the task. Two experiments, undertaken to examine the use of intellectual process constructs in considering this relationship, are fully described. According to the proposed model, the first stage would be an information processing analysis of known tests of mental ability. The results of Experiment I indicate that commonly-used tests of mental abilities may be composed in part of several specifiable intellectual processes which may be similar across a diverse range of mental abilities. Experiment II revealed that instructing a group of subjects to use hypotheses relevant to attaining solutions in a series of concept problems contributed significantly to their mean performance. In addition, hypothesis generation, evaluation, and memory are proposed as three intellectual processes important in concept learning problems. (Author/PR)