Theory or concept related to learning by comparing multiple, slightly different examples of the same object?
Sorry if this is the wrong place for this question, but I liked the sub description and it seemed appropriate. Also, sorry if this is long-ish, but I need to provide the context.
The concrete situation is this. I am embarking on restoring an old hifi amp. I need two of them, because they are mono, not stereo. In fact, I bought five, because I knew they'd probably come in rough shape (these are from the late 1950s). I know buying five amps sounds a little outlandish, but they were not expensive and it took me year.
In the past, when I've had only one of a particular device, I felt like I was flying with zero guidance. I could roughly make out what was stock and what components had been replaced, but I never felt sure of what I was dealing with, in terms or components or wiring. I can read a schematic well enough, but sometimes it just gets confusing matching a "slightly modified" device with the original schematic.
Now, with the five examples of the old amp, I feel like I have a much, much better picture of what's going on. Seeing the same components across multiple examples helps me feel much more certain of what's what. And seeing outliers (like one of the five has a different type of capacitor, or a rotary switch unlike the others, or something looks wired differently, etc.) helps me feel even more assured of the correct (or at least common) stock setup.
Moreover, I feel like I have a better working memory of the chassis setup in general. I feel like I really am memorizing the component and connections much more naturally.
So my question is, what kind of learning is happening with the multiple examples vs. the single example? Does this learning process have a name?
You'd think with a single example I could abstract the "rules" for what's what, but again, there's that confounding problem of not always knowing what's been switched with a newer or different component or bit of circuitry. So it's nearly impossible to abstract any construction rule from just one example.