Metaphor and Symbol, 25: 93–113, 2010 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1092-6488 print / 1532-7868 online DOI: 10.1080/10926481003716000 HMET 1092-6488 1532-7868 Metaphor and Symbol, Vol. 25, No. 2, March 2010: pp. 0–0 Metaphor and Symbol Analogical Symbols: The Role of Visual Cues in Long-Term Transfer Role of Visual Cues in analogical problem solving Chen et al. Zhe Chen University of California, Davis Lei Mo South China Normal University Ryan Honomichl Hiram College Myeong-Ho Sohn George Washington University We are reminded of relevant stories, tales, or symbols from long-term memory when facing a novel problem our daily lives. Visual cues are 1 tool known to facilitate reminding. In 2 experiments, Chinese students, who had experienced a folk tale many years ago during childhood, were asked to solve an analogous problem. We tested the hypothesis that a visual cue can help bridge the gap between a novel problem and a source analogy experienced in the distant past. Different types of cues proved to have distinct influences on components of analogical problem solving. This research suggests that analogical representational features of a story or problem can be stored in long-term memory and can be activated by visual cues. The implications of these findings for theories that point to percep- tual or grounded, rather than decontextualized structures in knowledge representation are discussed. We often use visual information to improve our memory and make connections between old and new knowledge. Examples include tying a knot on a finger (Shanon, 1990) and examining a visual pun to connect two distinct, but related, concepts (Abed, 1994). The mechanisms related to how visual information can facilitate reminiscence and bridge the gap between the old and the new have been studied extensively in cognitive science (Holyoak & Thagard, 1995; Larkin & Simon, 1987; Pedone, Hummel, & Holyoak, 2001). One area of research that has focused on this in particular is analogical problem solving. This literature has shown that people can use infor- mation from a source problem in solving analogous problems (e.g., Catrambone, 1996; Gick & Holyoak, 1980; Reed, 1987). However, other studies have revealed that even short-term transfer within the same laboratory setting rarely occurs (e.g., Reed, Ernst, & Banerji, 1974). These Address correspondence to Zhe Chen, Department of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616-8523. E-mail: zhechen@ucdavis.edu