Abstract
Analogical problem solving involves transferring information from a particular domain (i.e., the analogue or source) to another (i.e., the target). The success of any transfer process depends on the modality of representation (verbal or pictorial) and the level of abstraction or similarity shared between the source and target problems.
The Experiment predicted that procedural similarity will influence transfer more than the principle and strategy levels. One hundred and fifty-six female undergraduate Saudi students were randomly assigned to five experimental and one control condition that differed in the extent to which the pictorially depicted source shared a concrete procedure with the target. Contrary to prediction no significant difference in transfer performance among the different levels of similarity was found. Retrospective reports of participants indicated that the pictures lacked clarity and tended to process the information in the pictures in the R to L instead of L to R sequence which affected the interpretation of the process depicted.