More Evidence that Optional Surface Elements of Practice Problems Bias 'Thoughtful' Decisions (NOT KNOWN IF PUBLISHED BECAUSE AUTHOR HAS LEFT AT&T)

Well-learned decision rules, based on conceptual analysis of concrete problem elements, were applied by learners to a large number of practice problems. Correlations between specific problem elements and the categorizations that had to be made to exercise certain rules, produced a) faster decisions, but b) more errors with new, relevant instances. Results indicate that persistent biases in the surface characteristics of exemplars used during training, can short-circuit the thoughtful application of well-learned rules.