On transfer during problem solving

A puzzle is equally new for everyone who is presented with it for the first time. However, it is not if we take one’s previous knowledge into account. Some knowledge may be utilised while working on the puzzle. If this is the case, problem solving as well as the development of knowledge about the puzzle both are promoted as the result of transfer of knowledge. This was demonstrated in a study where participants with different levels of knowledge in programming solved the Four Balls Puzzle, an isomorph of the Chinese Ring Puzzle. 21 Participants, experienced in programming, outperformed 24 non-experienced participants in solving the puzzle but not in the attained level of verbalised knowledge about the puzzle at the end of the problem-solving process.