Terminal Feedback Outperforms Concurrent Visual,Auditory, and Haptic Feedback in Learning a Complex Rowing-Type Task

Augmented feedback, provided by coaches or displays, is a well-established strategy to accelerate motor learning. Frequent terminal feedback and concurrent feedback have been shown to be detrimental for simple motor task learning but supportive for complex motor task learning. However, conclusions on optimal feedback strategies have been mainly drawn from studies on artificial laboratory tasks with visual feedback only. Therefore, the authors compared the effectiveness of learning a complex, 3-dimensional rowing-type task with either concurrent visual, auditory, or haptic feedback to self-controlled terminal visual feedback. Results revealed that terminal visual feedback was most effective because it emphasized the internalization of task-relevant aspects. In contrast, concurrent feedback fostered the correction of task-irrelevant errors, which hindered learning. The concurrent visual and haptic feedback group performed much better during training with the feedback than in nonfeedback trials. Auditory feedback based on sonification of the movement error was not practical for training the 3-dimensional movement for most participants. Concurrent multimodal feedback in combination with terminal feedback may be most effective, especially if the feedback strategy is adapted to individual preferences and skill level.     

Lassoing Skill Through Learner Choice

The authors examined several issues related to the motor learning benefits resulting from giving learners choices. In 2 experiments, participants practiced a novel task, throwing a lasso. In Experiment 1, giving learners a choice ostensibly irrelevant to performance (color of mat under target) resulted in enhanced learning relative to a control group. The choice group also reported more positive affect. Experiment 2 compared the effectiveness of task-irrelevant (mat color) versus task-relevant (video demonstrations of the skill) choices. In both choice groups, each participant was yoked to a participant in the other group, and each received the same mat color or saw the video demonstration, respectively, as chosen by their counterpart in the other group. In the control group, participants were yoked to their respective counterparts in each of the choice groups. On a retention test, the 2 choice groups did not differ from each other, but both outperformed the control group. The affective and learning effects seen when learners are given choices, and the fact that task-relevant and task-irrelevant choices resulted in similar learning benefits, are consistent with a content-neutral mechanism for the effects of choice on learning, as described in the OPTIMAL theory of motor learning (Wulf &; Lewthwaite, 2016 Wulf, G., &; Lewthwaite, R. (2016). Optimizing performance through intrinsic motivation and attention for learning: The OPTIMAL theory of motor learning. Psychonomic Bulletin &; Review, 23, 1382–1414. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0999-9.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).     

Self-controlled practice: Autonomy protects perceptions of competence and enhances motor learning

ObjectiveIn previous self-controlled feedback studies, it was observed that participants who could control their own feedback schedules usually use a strategy of choosing feedback after successful trials, and present superior motor learning when compared with participants who were not allowed to choose. Yoked participants of these studies, however, were thwarted not only regarding autonomy but also, presumably, regarding perceived competence, as their feedback schedules were provided randomly, regarding good or bad trials. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether self-controlled feedback schedules would have differential effects on learning if yoked participants are provided with feedback after good trials at the same rate as their self-controlled counterparts.DesignExperimental study with two groups. Timing accuracy was assessed in two different experimental phases, supplemented by questionnaire data.MethodParticipants practiced a coincident-anticipation timing task with a self-controlled or yoked feedback schedule during practice. Participants of the self-controlled group were able to ask for feedback for two trials, after each of five 6-trial practice blocks. Yoked participants received a feedback schedule matching the self-control group schedule, according to accuracy.ResultsParticipants asked for (self-controlled group) and received (yoked group) feedback, mainly after relatively good trials. However, participants of the self-controlled group reported greater self-efficacy at the end of practice, and performed with greater accuracy one day later, on the retention test, than the yoked group.ConclusionsThe findings indicate that the autonomy provided by self-controlled feedback protocols can raise learners' perceptions of competence, with positive consequences on motor learning.     

Examining the impact of error estimation on the effects of self-controlled feedback

Two experiments were conducted that examined the motivational and informational perspectives concerning learning advantages from self-controlled practice. Three groups were tasked with learning a novel skill; self-controlled (SC), yoked traditional (YT), and yoked with error estimation required during the acquisition phase (YE). Results from the delayed learning measures showed the YE group performed better than the SC and YT groups, for Expt. 1. A similar pattern emerged for Expt. 2, albeit, this was not significant. While there were no motivation differences across the groups in either experiment, a strong correlation in Expt. 2 was shown between error estimation capabilities, which were best for the YE group, and learning. These combined results suggest that informational processes contribute more to the self-controlled feedback learning advantage, relative to motivational contributions.     

Event-related brain potential in responses to social messages via human faces

In two experiments participants were presented a sequence of facial photographs to examine effects of pleasantness of facial expressions, namely, pleasant and unpleasant, and task relevance on P300 component of event-related brain potentials in the 3-stimulus version of the oddball task. Exp. 1 showed that, although the amplitudes of P300 were the largest in response to task-relevant target stimuli and moderate in response to task-irrelevant nontargets, the Pleasantness of stimuli did not affect the amplitudes of P300 when the stimuli were task-relevant or irrelevant. Data in Exp. 2 suggested that the emotional significance rather than physical characteristics of stimuli might be responsible for generation of P300 by task-irrelevant nontargets.     

Increased experience amplifies the activation of task-irrelevant category representations

Prior research has demonstrated the benefits (i.e., task-relevant attentional selection) and costs (i.e., task-irrelevant attentional capture) of prior knowledge on search for an individual target or multiple targets from a category. This study investigated whether the level of experience with particular categories predicts the degree of task-relevant and task-irrelevant activation of item and category representations. Adults with varying levels of dieting experience (measured via 3 subscales of Disinhibition, Restraint, Hunger; Stunkard & Messick, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 29(1), 71–83, 1985) searched for targets defined as either a specific food item (e.g., carrots), or a category (i.e., any healthy or unhealthy food item). Apart from the target-present trials, in the target-absent “foil” trials, when searching for a specific item (e.g., carrots), irrelevant items from the target’s category (e.g., squash) were presented. The ERP (N2pc) results revealed that the activation of task-relevant representations (measured via Exemplar and Category N2pc amplitudes) did not differ based on the degree of experience. Critically, however, increased dieting experience, as revealed by lower Disinhibition scores, predicted activation of task-irrelevant representations (i.e., attentional capture of foils from the target item category). Our results suggest that increased experience with particular categories encourages the rapid activation of category representations even when category information is task irrelevant, and that the N2pc in foil trials could potentially serve as an indication of experience level in future studies on categorization.     

More learned irrelevance than perseveration errors in rule shifting in healthy subjects

The present experiments examined the extent to which two possible sources of error affect healthy subjects' performance in a rule-shift task. All 115 participants first received a discrimination learning task, in which a pair of different visual stimuli was presented on each trial, one of which had to be identified as 'correct.' Each stimulus varied in two dimensions: a task-relevant and a task-irrelevant dimension. Feedback on correctness was given after each choice. After eight successive correct choices, the nature of the task-relevant dimension changed: the post-shift learning phase. Two types of error can occur in this phase: continued responding to the former relevant, but now irrelevant, dimension, a perseverative error, and non-responding to the former irrelevant, but now relevant, dimension, an error due to learned irrelevance. Different groups received a post-shift task in which none, one, or both of these two types of error could affect performance. The number of incorrect choices in the post-shift phase was significantly affected by learned-irrelevance errors but not by perseverative errors. An associative-learning model incorporating feedback-induced changes in both associative strength and saliency of the elements comprising the stimuli can explain these results.     

The role of desires in sequential impulsive choices

The present research provides evidence for a sequential mitigation effect, which is the phenomenon that participation in a prior impulsive choice task significantly reduces the decision maker’s likelihood of choosing impulsively in a subsequent task. The results of five experiments: (a) provide evidence for the Sequential Mitigation Effect using different study materials and contexts (Experiments 1–3), (b) show that prior impulsive (as opposed to non-impulsive) choice is required for the effect to occur (Experiment 4), and (c) find that the decision maker’s chronic sensitivity to positive and negative outcomes moderates the effect (Experiment 5). The results support the notion that desire for impulsive options functions as a limited motivational resource, and being consumed in the first task, is experienced to a lesser extent in the second task. The sequential mitigation effect may be characterized as a motivational contextual influence on decision making, complementing existing research showing that cognitive context effects influence sequential choices.     

Hemispheric asymmetries in semantic processing: evidence from false memories for ambiguous words

We used fMRI to investigate competition during language production in two word production tasks: object naming and color naming of achromatic line drawings. Generally, fMRI activation was higher for color naming. The line drawings were followed by a word (the distractor word) that referred to either the object, a related object, or an unrelated object. The effect of the distractor word on the BOLD response was qualitatively different for the two tasks. The activation pattern suggests two different kinds of competition during lexical retrieval: (1) Task-relevant responses (e.g., red in color naming) compete with task-irrelevant responses (i.e., the object’s name). This competition effect was dominant in prefrontal cortex. (2) Multiple task-relevant responses (i.e., target word and distractor word) compete for selection. This competition effect was dominant in ventral temporal cortex. This study provides further evidence for the distinct roles of frontal and temporal cortex in language production, while highlighting the effects of competition, albeit from different sources, in both regions.     

Dissociating the contributions of motivational and information processing factors to the self-controlled feedback learning benefit

Giving learners control over their feedback schedule has been shown to enhance motor learning. This effect has been attributed to enhanced intrinsic motivation via fulfilling learners’ needs for feelings of autonomy and competence, and greater information processing through provoking learners to estimate their errors. However, there is a lack of studies dissociating the contributions of motivational and information processing factors to the self-controlled feedback learning effect. To address this shortcoming, we crossed self-controlled feedback and error estimation in the same experimental design in the largest pre-registered self-control study to date (N = 200). Participants performed a nondominant arm bean bag tossing task under one of four training conditions in which feedback schedule was either controlled by the participant or matched to a counterpart and error estimation was either mandatory or not enforced. Learning was assessed 24 h after the acquisition phase in retention and transfer tests. Results showed no statistically significant learning advantage for participants given control over feedback despite promoting spontaneous error estimation, and, surprisingly, results showed a disadvantage specific to the transfer test for participants obligated to estimate their errors. Further, although self-control over feedback resulted in its delivery on relatively accurate trials and slightly increased learners’ perceived autonomy, it did not enhance perceived competence or intrinsic motivation. At the individual level, however, intrinsic motivation did predict motor learning. The present study challenges the benefit of self-controlled feedback while supporting the positive effect of intrinsic motivation on motor learning.     

OPTIMAL practice conditions enhance the benefits of gradually increasing error opportunities on retention of a stepping sequence task

IntroductionPhysical therapists should implement practice conditions that promote motor skill learning after neurological injury. Errorful and errorless practice conditions are effective for different populations and tasks. Errorful learning provides opportunities for learners to make task-relevant choices. Enhancing learner autonomy through choice opportunities is a key component of the Optimizing Performance through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning (OPTIMAL) theory of motor learning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the interaction between error opportunity frequency and OPTIMAL (autonomy-supportive) practice conditions during stepping sequence acquisition in a virtual environment.MethodsForty healthy young adults were randomized to autonomy-supportive or autonomy-controlling practice conditions, which differed in instructional language, focus of attention (external vs internal) and positive versus negative nature of verbal and visual feedback. All participants practiced 40 trials of 4, six-step stepping sequences in a random order. Each of the 4 sequences offered different amounts of choice opportunities about the next step via visual cue presentation (4 choices; 1 choice; gradually increasing [1-2-3-4] choices, and gradually decreasing [4-3-2-1] choices). Motivation and engagement were measured by the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) and the User Engagement Scale (UES). Participants returned 1–3 days later for retention tests, where learning was measured by time to complete each sequence. No choice cues were offered on retention.ResultsParticipants in the autonomy-supportive group outperformed the autonomy-controlling group at retention on all sequences (mean difference 2.88s, p < .005, t[6835] = 3.42). Participants in both groups had the most difficulty acquiring the decreasing choice (4-3-2-1) sequence (p < .001, t[6835] = −4.26) and performed most poorly on the errorful (4 choice) sequence (p < .034, t[6835] = 2.65) at retention. Participants in the autonomy-supportive group performed best at retention on the increasing choice (1-2-3-4) sequence (p < .033, t[6835] = −2.7). Participants in both groups who reported greater attention to the task on the UES Average Focused Attention subscale during acquisition had poorer retention performance, particularly for the decreasing choice (4-3-2-1) sequence (p < .005, t(6835) = 3.39). Participants in the autonomy-supportive group reported significantly higher overall motivation (p = .007, t(38) = 0.728, d = 0.248) on the IMI as compared to the autonomy-controlling group.ConclusionIndividual benefits of errorless learning and autonomy-supportive practice conditions, with an interaction effect for practice that begins errorless but adds increasing error opportunities over time, suggest that participants relied on implicit learning strategies for this full body task and that feedback about successes minimized errors and reduced their potential information-processing benefits. Subsequent work will continue to examine how assigning a positive versus a negative quality to error provision influences the benefits of errorful learning in a variety of tasks.     

The conflicting choices of alternating selves

Participants made choices after the salience of their social identities was manipulated. Choices assimilated to the salient identity, whether that identity stemmed from a person’s role (e.g., student, family member) or culture (e.g., Chinese, American). Thus, the preferences that participants expressed depended on the identity that happened to be salient at the moment of choice, with participants expressing preferences when one identity was salient that conflicted with the preferences they would express were another identity salient. These effects only arose for those who held and identified with the evoked identity. Studies further revealed that such identity-congruent choices influence post-choice satisfaction and regret: participants were less satisfied with their prior choices when the identity salient during post-choice evaluation or consumption was different from the identity salient during choice, compared to when the “choosing” and “consuming” identities were the same. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

A unified model for perceptual learning

Perceptual learning in adult humans and animals refers to improvements in sensory abilities after training. These improvements had been thought to occur only when attention is focused on the stimuli to be learned (task-relevant learning) but recent studies demonstrate performance improvements outside the focus of attention (task-irrelevant learning). Here, we propose a unified model that explains both task-relevant and task-irrelevant learning. The model suggests that long-term sensitivity enhancements to task-relevant or irrelevant stimuli occur as a result of timely interactions between diffused signals triggered by task performance and signals produced by stimulus presentation. The proposed mechanism uses multiple attentional and reinforcement systems that rely on different underlying neuromodulators. Our model provides insights into how neural modulators, attentional and reinforcement learning systems are related.     

Asserting your mind: Interruptions extremize consumer choices

Interruptions prevail in the retail environment, especially during consumer decision-making. However, scant research has examined whether and how interruptions that suspend decisions affect consumer choices. We posit that interruptions heighten the consumers' preference certainty, which leads to a choice extremity effect—consumers choose their preferred products even more and their unpreferred products even less. Six experiments provide convergent evidence for the choice extremity effect and the underlying process. Study 1a shows that interruptions lead to choice extremity with a vice product (i.e., chips). Study 1b confirms the effect in the context of incentive-compatible choices. Study 2 replicates the choice extremity effect with a virtue product (i.e., yogurts). Study 3 further tests the robustness of the effect with a decision-related interruption. Study 4 shows that preference certainty mediates the effect of interruptions on choice extremity and rules out the level of arousal and task involvement as alternative accounts. Using a moderation approach, Study 5 shows that the choice extremity effect disappears when consumers have high self-concept clarity. The present study contributes to research on interruptions, preference certainty, and consumer choices and provides implications for marketers.     

得失框架效应的分离—— 来自收益与损失型跨期选择的研究

本研究通过创设收益和损失跨期选择情境, 采用不同表征方式(得框架、失框架)的跨期选择任务, 分别探讨了收益和损失情境下的跨期选择是否存在得失框架效应, 及其是否会受任务难度的影响。结果发现：(1)收益型跨期选择只在任务容易时存在得失框架效应, 与失框架相比, 被试在得框架下选择即时获益的概率更高; 任务困难时得失框架效应消失(实验a); (2)损失型跨期选择中不存在得失框架效应(实验b)。结果表明, 得失框架效应在损、益型跨期选择中出现了分离, 收益型跨期选择中的得失框架效应的内在认知机制很可能与风险决策中的框架效应类似并且是一种较为初级的认知加工过程。     

Choosing to exercise more: Small choices increase exercise engagement

ObjectivesThe purpose of the study was to examine whether individuals' motivation to exercise could be increased by providing them with an incidental choice.DesignExperimental design with two groups.MethodTwo groups of participants were asked to perform four exercises (i.e., lunges, jumping jacks, bear crawls, medicine-ball throws). After a demonstration of each exercise, a choice group was given the opportunity to choose the order of exercises, while a control group performed them in a pre-determined order. Subsequently, all participants decided how many sets and repetitions of each exercise they wanted to complete.ResultsChoice group participants performed a significant greater number of total repetitions (sets × repetitions) of all exercises than did control group participants.ConclusionsThe finding suggests that individuals' need for autonomy can be supported by giving them small choices, which can positively affect exercise engagement.     

Learning to ignore the mask in texture segmentation tasks

Although traditionally texture segmentation has been regarded as an automatic, preattentive process, participants confronted with texture segmentation in experimental settings (i.e., with brief presentation time and subsequent masking) are initially unable to perform the task. According to perceptual learning concepts, participants must learn to fine-tune their sensory channels before perception improves under restricted viewing conditions. The present article proposes an alternative perspective that emphasizes the role of the mask. Four experiments showed that the amount of observed learning depends on the structural and temporal homogeneity or heterogeneity of the mask. The authors suggest that learning consists of separating the task-relevant signal stemming from the texture from the task-irrelevant signal of the mask and of ignoring the mask.     

Choice‐making,Expectations, and Treatment Positivity: How and When Choosing Shapes Aversive Experiences

Every day we use products and treatments with unknown but expected effects, such as using medication to manage pain. In many cases, we have a choice over which products or treatments to use; however, in other cases, people choose for us or choices are unavailable. Does choosing (versus not choosing) have implications for how a product or treatment is experienced? The current experiments examined the role of choice‐making in facilitating so‐called expectation assimilation effects—or situations in which a person's experiences (e.g., discomfort and pain) are evaluated in a manner consistent with their expectations. In Experiment 1, participants were initially exposed to a baseline set of aversive stimuli (i.e., sounds). Next, some participants were given expectations for two “treatments” (i.e., changes in screen display) that could ostensibly reduce discomfort. Critically, participants were either given a choice or not about which of the two treatments they preferred. Participants in a control condition were not provided with treatment expectations. Results revealed that discomfort experiences assimilated to expectations only when participants were provided with choice. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and provided evidence against the idea that demand characteristics and choice‐making unrelated to the core task (i.e., choices without associated expectations) could account for the results. Further, Experiment 2 showed that choosing reduced discomfort because of increased positivity about the treatment. Results are discussed in the context of extant research on choice‐making and expectation effects. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Second choices in a visual span of apprehension task

Four Ss were run in a visual span of apprehension experiment to determine whether second choices made following incorrect first responses are at the chance level, as implied by various high threshold models proposed for this situation. The relationships between response biases on first and second choices, and between first choice biases on trials with two or three possible responses, were also examined in terms of Luce’s (1959) choice theory. The results were: (a) second choice performance in this task appears to be determined by response bias alone, i.e., second choices were at the chance level; (b)first and second choice response biases were not related according to Luce’s choice axiom; and (c) the choice axiom predicted with reasonable accuracy the relationships between first choice response biases corresponding to trials with different numbers of possible response alternatives.     

Evaluating the reliance on past choices in adaptive learning models

Adaptive learning models are used to predict behavior in repeated choice tasks. Predictions can be based on previous payoffs or previous choices of the player. The current paper proposes a new method for evaluating the degree of reliance on past choices, called equal payoff series extraction (EPSE). Under this method a simulated player has the same exact choices as the player but receives equal constant payoffs from all of the alternatives. Success in predicting the next choice ahead for this simulated player therefore relies strictly on mimicry of previous choices of the actual player. This allows determining the marginal fit of predictions that are not based on the actual task payoffs. To evaluate the reliance on past choices under different models, an experiment was conducted in which 48 participants completed a three-alternative choice task in four task conditions. Two different learning rules were evaluated: an interference rule and a decay rule. The results showed that while the predictions of the decay rule relied more on past choices, only the reliance on past payoffs was associated with improved parameter generality. Moreover, we show that the Equal Payoff Series can be used as a criterion for optimizing parameters resulting in better parameter generalizability.