Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Some theories of analogical mapping predict that finding mappings based on relations between objects requires greater working-memory capacity than finding mappings based on attributes of individual objects. It follows that the ability to make relational mappings will be impaired by any manipulation that constricts available working memory capacity. This prediction was tested in two experiments using a mapping task that required finding correspondences between pairs of pictures in which a critical object was "cross-mapped" (attribute similarity supporting one mapping, relational similarity another). Working memory was constricted in Experiment 1 by requiring participants to maintain a digit load while performing the mapping, and in Experiment 2 by inducing anxiety using a speeded subtraction task administered prior to the analogy task. Both manipulations caused participants to produce fewer relational responses and more attribute responses. The findings support the postulated links among working memoiy, anxiety, and the ability to perform complex analogical mapping.