The way participants adapt their search to the specifics of different types of analogies is not fully understood. We compared the effects of two types of semantic distractors. The first were related to C by a semantic relation which had nothing to do with the semantic relation used in the A:B pairs, whereas the second, the so-called ”double distractors”, were not only related to C but also had a semantic relation similar to the one linking A to B. We used eye-tracking measurements in addition to reaction time and performance indices. We found that performance decreased, and that the solution set was less explored visually with the double distractors than with the former. This suggests that the analysis of the A:B pair activates a set of relations which can prime irrelevant relations which compete with other relations while searching for the relevant dimensions.

We used eye-tracking to study the time course of analogical reasoning in adults. We considered proportions of looking times and saccades. The main question was whether or not adults would follow the same search strategies for different types of analogical problems (Scene Analogies vs. Classical A:B:C:D vs a Scene version of A:B::C:D). We then compared these results to the predictions of various models of analogical reasoning. Results revealed a picture of common search patterns with local adaptations to the specifics of each paradigm in both looking-time duration and the number and types of saccades. These results are discussed in terms of conceptions of analogical reasoning.