What is transfer of learning?

• A. It's what takes place when the learning of one skill or command affects the learning of another skill or command.
• B. It's when the learner forgets a previously learned skill.
• C. It's when a task is learned in one setting but not in another.
• D. It's only observed in humans, not animals.

Answer: (A)

Transfer of learning is how skills or information learned in one situation influence performance in a different situation. In training military working dogs, this means a cue, command, or skill learned with a handler or in a controlled setting can carry over to other handlers, environments, or tasks, helping the dog respond correctly even when conditions change. This can be positive (useful carryover) or, less ideally, negative if old learning interferes with new tasks, though our aim is to foster positive transfer and generalization so behaviors hold up across settings.

The option described matches this idea: learning of one skill or command affects the learning of another skill or command, reflecting the interconnected way training pieces influence one another. Forgetting a skill is about retention, not transfer. Learning a task in one setting but not another describes a lack of generalization, not the carryover of learning. And transfer isn’t limited to humans; animals, including dogs, can show transfer of learning.