The automatic, often unconscious, transfer of learning to another situation is…

Concept

Transfer of learning occurs when knowledge or a skill acquired in one setting affects performance in another setting.

Low-road transfer is automatic and often unconscious after extensive practice in similar situations; high-road transfer requires deliberate abstraction and mindful application.

Application

The stem emphasizes an automatic and often unconscious process. These defining features identify low-road transfer.

Contrast with the other terms

• Mental set: a habitual problem-solving approach carried from earlier experience; it can restrict the strategies considered.

• High-road transfer: conscious, effortful abstraction of a principle for use in a different context.

• Memory span: short-term capacity for holding and reproducing information, rather than transfer between situations.

Cross-check

Replacing automatic with deliberate would point to high-road transfer, so the wording consistently distinguishes low-road transfer from its nearest alternative.

Therefore, the process described is low-road transfer.