What is unfavorable transfer of learning?

• A. It's when prior learning hinders learning a new task.
• B. It's when prior learning helps the new task.
• C. It's when there is no impact on learning.
• D. It's when training time is shorter than usual.

Answer: (A)

Unfavorable transfer of learning happens when what you previously learned makes it harder to learn something new. It’s a form of negative transfer where the old responses or cues keep pulling you toward the old task instead of aligning with the new one, causing interference, slower progress, or more mistakes.

In a military working dog context, imagine a dog trained to respond to a specific scent cue in one environment. When the task changes—such as moving to a different environment or training for a different target cue—the old habit or cue can still dominate the response. The dog might follow the familiar pattern rather than the new requirements, hindering learning of the new task.

This is different from positive transfer (where prior learning helps the new task), neutral transfer (no meaningful effect), or a training efficiency improvement (training time shorter).