Sensory Feedback in the Learning of a Novel Motor Task

The role of different forms of feedback is examined in learning a novel motor task. Five groups of ten subjects had to learn the voluntary control of the abduction of the big toe, each under a different feedback condition (proprioceptive feedback, visual feedback, EMG feedback, tactile feedback, force feedback). The task was selected for two reasons. First, in most motor learning studies subjects have to perform simple movements which present hardly any learning problem. Second, studying the learning of a new movement can provide useful information for neuromuscular reeducation, where patients often also have to learn movements for which no control strategy exists. The results show that artificial sensory feedback (EMG feedback, force feedback) is more powerful than “natural” (proprioceptive, visual, and tactile) feedback. The implications of these results for neuromuscular reeducation are discussed.     

The Interaction of Criterion and Feedback Information in Learning a Drawing Task

Experiments were designed to examine the influence of criterion and feedback information in the learning of a two-dimensional drawing task. Experiment 1 showed that when the task criterion is well known to the subject, the combined presentation of criterion information and information feedback facilitates the rate of acquisition of the skill but not its overall performance level of achievement. Experiment 2 showed that when the task criterion information is not well known to the subject, presentation of criterion information facilitates both the rate of acquisition and the overall performance level and, furthermore, is essential if configuration information feedback is to be utilized effectively. Experiment 3 showed that it is the combined presentation of criterion and configuration information feedback, rather than the isolated presentation of either type of information alone, that facilitates learning and performance. Collectively, the findings from the three experiments suggest an interactive effect of prior knowledge by the learner and type of augmented information in facilitating the acquisition of skill, according to the constraints imposed in the task. The data are consistent with the proposal that the degrees of freedom in the information available to support motor skill learning must match the degrees of freedom to be constraint in the perceptual-motor workspace.     

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.     

Augmented Feedback Presented in a Virtual Environment Accelerates Learning of a Difficult Motor Task

One can use a number of techniques (e.g., from videotaping to computer enhancement of the environment) to augment the feedback that a subject usually receives during training on a motor task. Although some forms of augmented feedback have been shown to enhance performance on isolated isometric tasks during training, when the feedback has been removed subjects have sometimes not been able to perform as well in the "real-world" task as controls. Indeed, for realistic, nonisometric motor tasks, improved skill acquisition because of augmented feedback has not been demonstrated. In the present experiments, subjects (Experiment 1, N = 42; Experiment 2, N = 21) performed with a system that was designed for teaching a difficult multijoint movement in a table tennis environment. The system was a fairly realistic computer animation of the environment and included paddles for the teacher and subject, as well as a virtual ball. Each subject attempted to learn a difficult shot by matching the pattern of movements of the expert teacher. Augmented feedback focused the attention of the subject on a minimum set of movement details that were most relevant to the task; feedback was presented in a form that required the least perceptual processing. Effectiveness of training was determined by measuring their performance in the real task. Subjects who received the virtual environment training performed significantly better than subjects who received a comparable amount of real-task practice or coaching. Kinematic analysis indicated that practice with the expert's trajectory served as a basis for performance on the real-world task and that the movements executed after training were subject-specific modifications of the expert's trajectory. Practice with this trajectory alone was not sufficient for transfer to the real task, however: When a critical component of the virtual environment was removed, subjects showed no transfer to the real task.     

延迟结果反馈对追踪任务技能学习的影响

在运动技能学习中,指导者通过提供外部反馈(Extrinsic feedback),帮助学习者掌握运动技能。结果反馈(knowledge of results,以下简称KR)是人们研究较多的一种追加反馈,它是指根据预定目标提供的关于应答结果的语言化(或可语言化)的末端追加信息(Schrnidt,1988)。     

The Interactive Effects of Task and External Feedback on Practice Performance and Learning

The interactions of task and external feedback on practice performance and learning were examined. While external feedback was consistently beneficial to performance during practice, regardless of the availability of feedback from the task, it was detrimental to learning when the task provided little feedback. External feedback benefited learning only when feedback was also available from the task. In addition, task feedback benefited learning, partially due to its effects on error detection and correction skills. Results suggest the importance of examining the simultaneous provision of feedback from different sources, studying the role of task feedback in learning, and more cleanly assessing learning to avoid confounding it with transient performance improvements.     

任务难度和反馈学习对儿童类比推理能力的影响

该研究采用情景类比任务,通过两个实验对180名小学生进行纸笔测验,探讨了任务难度对儿童类比推理能力的影响.结果发现:进行反馈学习以降低任务难度时,7～8岁儿童能完成更高年龄段儿童才能完成的任务;但增加任务难度,11岁以上儿童也表现出类比推理能力的弱化.结果提示,儿童是否能在类比推理任务中表现出相应的能力可能取决于任务难度,反馈学习可促进一定年龄段内儿童的类比推理能力发展.本结果为有机融合皮亚杰和Goswami等人的观点提供了有效的实验依据.     

The Role of Task Experience and Prior Knowledge for Detecting Invalid Augmented Feedback while Learning a Motor Skill

Two hypotheses were investigated. These were generated from results reported by Buekers, Magill, and Sneyers (1994) and an uncertainty account of those and other effects on skill learning of erroneous knowledge of results (KR). The first hypothesis proposes that if experienced performers have developed the capability of detecting and correcting errors, then they should not be influenced by erroneous KR in the same way as novices. The second proposes that if information about the invalid feedback is given to subjects prior to the beginning of the practice trials, then the capability for assessing feedback can be accelerated such that subjects who receive this advance information should not be misled by the erroneous KR. The first hypothesis was investigated in Experiment 1 by having subjects practise an anticipation timing task for 450 trials. One group received correct KR on all trials, and another group received no KR. Half of the subjects in each group were unexpectedly switched to erroneous KR after 400 trials. Results indicated that the erroneous KR influenced both groups during acquisition and on a retention test one minute later. However, on a retention test given one week later, only the group that had practised with no KR before being switched to erroneous KR continued to show the negative influence of the invalid KR. The second hypothesis was examined in Experiment 2 by telling subjects prior to beginning practice trials that it was possible that the KR they received would be erroneous. Results showed that this intervention strategy was effective on the no-KR retention tests only for subjects who had no-KR trials alternated with trials on which they received the erroneous KR. The results of these experiments provide evidence that uncertainty about the validity of sensory feedback increases the likelihood that subjects will be misled by invalid augmented feedback. Moreover, this uncertainty can be overcome by increased experience or by providing advance knowledge about the nature of the invalid feedback.     

Predicting Military Flight Training Success by a Compensatory Tracking Task

This study evaluated the validity of a compensatory tracking task for pre- dicting success in naval flight training. Its purpose was to determine if psychomotor test scores would add unique variance to the current aviation selection model. Aviation candidates (N = 187) admitted on the basis of current selection test scores were administered a 20-min computer-based tracking task before beginning flight training. Performance on the task was compared with flight training outcomes as measured by passlfailure and cu- mulative flight grade. The results indicated that the tracking task scores differentiated candidates who completed training from those who failed. Multiple regression analyses confirmed that the tracking task scores added unique variance to the current selection model.     

Achievement Goals,Feedback, and Task Performance

Prior research indicates that instructions to focus attention on learning versus performance and the nature of feedback provided have distinct implications for subsequent task performance. We first examined how assigned learning and performance goals and feedback valence interact to determine performance change. Individuals with learning goal instructions performed better after negative feedback but worse after positive feedback. In Study 2, we found that implicit theory, an individual difference that is antecedent to general goal orientation, interacted with learning/performance goal instructions to influence performance change after negative feedback. In both studies, goal instructions influenced performance attributions and affective states, but these variables did not mediate the effects of the goal instructions or performance feedback. We discuss the implications of these results for academic and employment settings.     

Implicit Learning in a Simple Cued Reaction-Time Task

Implicit learning tasks usually involve the learning of complex rules. While this does reduce the likelihood of subjects becoming aware of the relationship to be learned, it also raises the possibility of explaining improved performance in terms of explicit processes. The current experiments are an attempt to develop a task which shows evidence of implicit learning, but which involves the learning of a very simple rule and so avoids these alternative explanations. In two experiments, we exposed subjects to learning trials in which a target letter (or shape) was immediately preceded by a cue letter (or shape) in otherwise random nine-letter (or 15-shape) sequences. In a test phase, subjects responded more quickly to cued than uncued targets if the learning phase had involved reliable cue–target pairings, but not following random control pairings. This was true of subjects who were classified as aware and those classified as unaware of the cue–target relationship.     

Effects of Auditory Feedback on Movement Time in a Fitts Task

The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate the role of auditory feedback and its impact on movement time in a standard Fitts task. Feedback was given at the moment of target acquisition. A 2-way analysis of variance found significant differences between feedback groups at all three indexes of difficulty (F(2, 40) = 156.02, p < .001). Results from a mixed-model multivariate analysis of variance for kinematic factors show significant differences in peak velocity and the location of peak velocity when comparing feedback groups. In general, the addition of auditory feedback decreased the task ID by .5.     

Conditioned Inhibition in a Multiple Category Learning Task

Four experiments investigated inhibition that might arise in a task in which cues are associated with more than one outcome. In each experiment, human subjects played a game called 'Clues and Culprits' in which they were asked to judge the predictive strength of clues that had been associated with culprits in a series of hypothetical crimes. In a two-outcome version of the familiar conditioned inhibition paradigm (A+, AX- ), one clue was paired with one culprit on its own, but it was paired with a second culprit when it was combined with a second clue (A-1, AX-2). According to the delta rule, X should acquire inhibition for the first culprit; it should also acquire more inhibition than a differential cue merely associated with a second culprit (e.g. A-1, X-2). Inhibition was found with both procedures. However, the amount of inhibition did not differ between them, suggesting that mere association with a second outcome was sufficient to inhibit performance based on the first. Other data suggested the presence of cue competition. Also, when a cue associated with one culprit was paired with a second culprit on other trials, there was little evidence of unlearning of the first association.     

Interaction of Tremor and Magnification in a Motor Performance Task With Visual Feedback

In this study, the interaction between increased gain in the visual feedback loop and motor control of the periphery was investigated. Participants (N = 15) were asked to maintain a constant finger position while they used magnified visual feedback. The measure of the accuracy of each trial was the standard deviation (trial error) of the finger position. Trials performed under magnification had lower trial errors than trials without magnification. The change in trial error between trials with and without magnification proved greater than the difference between trials at any 2 magnifications. In contrast, the differences between individual subjects were often greater than the differences between performances at individual magnifications. At higher magnifications, performance seemed to be limited by the tremor; the ratio of trial error to tremor intensity was constant. When applied to microsurgery, the present results accord with those found in earlier research, including investigations that have found that the level of magnification used in microsurgery is not the most significant factor in achieving good results and that tremor is the limiting factor in microsurgical tasks.     

Differences in Task Performance as a Function of Type of Feedback: Learning-Oriented Versus Performance-Oriented Feedback1

A laboratory study was conducted to examine the effects of learning-oriented versus performance-oriented feedback of task performance. The research also examined the role of self-efficacy as a moderator. Subjects were college students participating for course credit. The task involved using a computerized simulation of the Space Shuttle's Remote Manipulation System (RMS). Results provided evidence of the beneficial effects of learning-oriented feedback on performance for the performance dimension addressed in the feedback. Results also provided evidence that self-efficacy moderates the effects of feedback type (learning-oriented versus performance-oriented) on the performance dimension addressed in the feedback. Results are discussed in terms of the cuing and directional functions of feedback and the processes through which feedback influences performance.     

国外运动学习中追加反馈的研究现状

1　引言Ａｄａｍｓ认为 :没有反馈就没有学习。学习者利用反馈提供的信息理解任务 ,不断觉察、纠正错误动作 ,最终掌握这一技能。因此 ,人们试图控制反馈来提高运动技能学习的效果。通常 ,能直接控制的反馈是外在反馈 (ＥｘｔｒｉｎｓｉｃＦｅｅｄ ｂａｃｋ) ,也常称为追加反馈 (ＡｕｇｍｅｎｔｅｄＦｅｅｄｂａｃｋ)。长期以来 ,追加反馈被认为是影响运动学习的一个基本变量 ,并认为 :追加反馈越频繁、越及时 ,学习效果就越好。然而 ,近年来 ,出现了许多与此相悖的研究成果。所以 ,对国外关于追加反馈研究文献的回顾 ,有助于促进国内研究者…     

第二语言学习中的反馈

在第二语言学习中,反馈指针对学习者的言语行为给予学习者的评价性信息。该文阐释了反馈的概念、类型以及反馈在第二语言学习中的角色,并从反馈的时机与对象、对学习者注意力的引导、学习者认知资源的限制、情感支持等方面分析了有效反馈的特征,最后对反馈研究对我国第二语言学习与教学的意义及以后的研究方向进行了探讨     

The Effects of Self-Esteem,Task Label,and Performance Feedback on Task Liking and Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

American undergraduate students' task liking and intrinsic motivation were examined using 2 × 2 × 2 (Self-Esteem × Task Label × Feedback) analyses of variance. Identical tasks were labeled as either difficult or easy, and bogus performance feedback was given randomly to each subject. For subjects with high self-esteem, feedback had strong impact on their liking of a difficult task, whereas for those with low self-esteem, feedback had strong impact on liking of an easy task. After positive feedback for performing a difficult task, subjects with high self-esteem increased task liking, whereas those with low self-esteem decreased task liking. Subjects also showed higher intrinsic motivation after positive feedback than after negative feedback.     

Muscular Fatigue and the Learning and Performance of a Motor Control Task

Four groups of 12 female college students performed a pursuit-rotor task during learning under one of four conditions of exercising the muscles of the limb used in the task: (a) no muscular exercise, (b) low-fatiguing, (c) medium-fatiguing, and (d) high-fatiguing muscular exercise. All four groups were tested 48 hr later on the same pursuit-rotor task with no exercise interpolated between the ten 20-sec trials. Differences in the performances among the four groups were not statistically significant on either the first or the second day alone or when the data of the two days were combined. The data appear to support the hypothesis of an inverted-U or inverted-J model relating performance (and learning) to muscular fatigue in motor-control tasks.     

Learning to Troubleshoot: Multistrategy Learning of Diagnostic Knowledge for a Real-World Problem-Solving Task

This article presents a computational model of the learning of diagnostic knowledge, based on observations of human operators engaged in real-world troubleshooting tasks. We present a model of problem solving and learning in which the reasoner introspects about its own performance on the problem-solving task, identifies what it needs to learn to improve its performance, formulates learning goals to acquire the required knowledge, and pursues its learning goals using multiple learning strategies. The model is implemented in a computer system which provides a case study based on observations of troubleshooting operators and protocol analysis of the data gathered in the test area of an operational electronics manufacturing plant. The model not only addresses issues in human learning, but, in addition, is computationally justified as a uniform, extensible framework for multistrategy learning.