Transfer of Learning in Soar

• Within-Trial Transfer

  When chunks are created they are available for immediate application. Thus, within a single problem solving session, chunks may be applied as soon as they are learned.

• Across-Trial Transfer

  As chunks are created, system performance over different instances of the same problem improves. This is another way of saying that Soar moves from problematic to routine behavior or that Soar gets better at similar tasks with practice. In particular, the chunking mechanism in Soar has been shown to demonstrate results consistent with the power law of practice. This transfer is a direct result of chunking's ability to generalize.

• Across-Task Transfer

  Soar has also demonstrated across-task transfer: applying knowledge learned in one domain to another. In one sense, this can be viewed as a form of analogical learning. However, the analogies can be very simple. For instance, if turning a doorknob results in opening a door then perhaps turning a jar top will result in opening a jar.

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