Metacognitive awareness is needed for analogical transfer between dissimilar tasks

In two experiments, we investigated a cross-task transfer of implicit knowledge between two dissimilar tasks requiring manual motor activity. In the first experiment, participants were aware of the relevance of their experience in one task for the solution of the other. In this condition, we observed transfer. In the second experiment, the participants did not know about the relationships between the two tasks, and the transfer did not occur. Concurrent verbalisation was harmful in the first experiment but helped participants in the second experiment. We conclude that one has to be metacognitively aware that one has a relevant representation to allow for its transfer between two dissimilar tasks. We discuss the obtained results within recent theories of analogous transfer from different research domains, such as problem-solving, implicit learning, and motor control.