Show or tell: Testimony is sufficient to induce the curse of knowledge in three- and four-year-olds

People often become slower in their performance after committing an error, which is usually explained by strategic control adjustments towards a more conservative response threshold. The present study tested an alternative hypothesis for explaining posterror slowing in terms of behavioural interferences resulting from error monitoring by manipulating stimulus contrast and categorization difficulty in a choice reaction time task. The response–stimulus interval (RSI) was either short or long, using a between-subject (Experiment 1) and a within-subject design (Experiment 2). Posterror slowing was larger and posterror accuracy lower in short than in long RSI situations. Effects of stimulus contrast disappeared in posterror trials when RSI was short. At long RSIs, stimulus contrast was additive with posterror slowing. The results support the idea that at least two mechanisms contribute to posterror slowing: a capacity-limited error-monitoring process with the strongest influence at short RSIs and a criterion adjustment mechanism at longer RSIs.     

Using verification feedback to correct errors made on a multiple-choice test

A key educational challenge is how to correct students’ errors and misconceptions so that they do not persist. Simply labelling an answer as correct or incorrect on a short-answer test (verification feedback) does not improve performance on later tests; error correction requires receiving answer feedback. We explored the generality of this conclusion and whether the effectiveness of verification feedback depends on the type of test with which it is paired. We argue that, unlike for short-answer tests, learning whether one's multiple-choice selection is correct or incorrect should help participants narrow down the possible answers and identify specific lures as false. To test this proposition we asked participants to answer a series of general knowledge multiple-choice questions. They received no feedback, answer feedback, or verification feedback, and then took a short-answer test immediately and two days later. Verification feedback was just as effective as answer feedback for maintaining correct answers. Importantly, verification feedback allowed learners to correct more of their errors than did no feedback, although it was not as effective as answer feedback. Overall, verification feedback conveyed information to the learner, which has both practical and theoretical implications.     

Embodying gestures: The Social Orienting Model and the study of early gestures in autism

Autistic spectrum disorders impair the ability to interact socially. Detecting and understanding their onset is not only an empirical enterprise, but also a theoretical one, often linked to studies on intersubjectivity. Different theoretical perspectives have been elaborated in the past to account for the deficit. The main purpose of this paper is to reinforce and offer empirical grounding to a recent approach, termed Social Orienting Model, by presenting the main theoretical approaches to autism and contrasting them to this view, as well as considering its possible effect on empirical research, focusing on current literature analyzing gestures in children with autism.

Modifying driver behaviour with passenger feedback

A feedback programme was employed to help drivers improve their safety behaviour based on the idea that particular types of driver error result from contingency traps as defined by Fuller [Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, 24 (1991) 73]. Two drivers and their single respective passengers participated. For each driver, repeated in-car observations were made of four unsafe driving behaviours. Two of these were sequentially targeted in the behavioural intervention that involved the passengers providing informational feedback to their driver. Both drivers showed a marked improvement across the targeted behaviours. The study demonstrated the applicability of behaviour analysis to the traffic domain and the efficacy of individual feedback as a behavioural tool for positive behaviour modification.     

Aligning confidence with accuracy: revisiting the role of feedback

Evaluation point feedback was used to align confidence judgments with accurate/inaccurate responding to general knowledge questions. Rehearsal of item-answer pairs and three evaluation systems based on a scoring rule had different effects on confidence, accuracy and their relationship. Using standard calibration measures (Yates, J.F., (1990). Judgment and Decision Making. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall) we found that a point system comprising of both rewarding (positive) and punishing (negative) consequences produced the best performance across levels of knowledge in comparison to all-rewarding and all-penalty rules.     

Decreasing driver speeding with feedback and a token economy

On-road research suggests that driver feedback combined with a token economy (a system of delayed reinforcement whereby tokens or points are distributed following a desired behaviour and are later exchanged for desired items) can reduce speeding, and that an incentive system without feedback may be sufficient to achieve this reduction. In two studies, we investigated the necessary and sufficient conditions required for this intervention to reduce speeding, and the efficacy of conducting such research using a driving simulator. Study 1 served to validate the simulator procedure. Participants completed a simulated drive while receiving feedback on their speed and a speed-based token economy. The intervention decreased their speeding compared with that of a control group. Study 2 investigated the amount of speed reduction that could be achieved with just one intervention component (i.e., feedback alone or a token economy alone) compared with feedback and a token economy combined or a control condition. Participants completed a 30-min simulated drive. Overall, drivers who received feedback combined with a token economy spent the least amount of time driving above the speed limit, had the slowest mean speed, and had the smallest standard deviation of speed. Drivers exposed to a token economy alone showed similar speed reductions. However, drivers exposed to feedback alone drove at speeds similar to control participants. Replicating these results under more realistic operating conditions could inform policy-makers and car manufacturers. Furthermore, the simulator proved a cost-effective and efficient means for examining the intervention.     

Orienting of attention: Then and now

It is nearly 35 years since I gave the 7th Sir Frederick Bartlett lecture at Oxford University. This was published as a paper entitled “Orienting of attention in the quarterly journal”. The topic was then primarily in psychology, but now equally often in neuroscience. This paper summarizes the background of the reaction time methods used in the original paper and findings that emerged later on the sensory consequences of orienting, mainly in the visual system. It then discusses the brain network that is the source of the sensory amplification and other brain networks that are involved in attention. Next, it reviews studies of the development of attentional networks in early life. Finally, it indicates how the new tools available to explore the human brain can lead to further progress.     

Reflection as a strategy to enhance task performance after feedback

An unanswered question in employee development is how reflection can be used for improving performance in organizations. Drawing from research and theory on dual-process models, we develop and test a reflection strategy to stimulate deeper learning after feedback. Results of two studies (N = 640 and N = 488) showed that reflection combined with feedback enhanced performance improvement on a web-based work simulation better than feedback alone. Reflection without feedback did not lead to performance improvement. Further analyses indicated that the proposed reflection strategy was less effective for individuals low in learning goal orientation, low in need for cognition, and low in personal importance as they engaged less in reflection. Together, these findings provide a theoretical basis for the future study of reflection in organizations and suggest a practical and cost-effective strategy for facilitating employee development after feedback in organizations.     

The negative feedback dysregulation effect: losses of motor control in response to negative feedback

Negative feedback has paradoxical features to it. This form of feedback can have informational value under some circumstances, but it can also threaten the ego, potentially upsetting behaviour as a result. To investigate possible consequences of the latter type, two experiments (total N?=?159) presented positive or negative feedback within a sequence-prediction task that could not be solved. Following feedback, participants had to control their behaviours as effectively as possible in a motor control task. Relative to positive feedback, negative feedback undermined control in a manner suggesting emotional upset (Experiment 1). These reactions lasted for at least three seconds and were especially pronounced among people reporting that they typically lose control in the context of their negative emotions (Experiment 2). The findings document a novel form of behavioural dysregulation that occurs in response to negative feedback while also highlighting the utility of motor control perspectives on self-control.     

错误后减慢理论模型述评

错误后减慢是指错误后正确反应与正确后正确反应相比反应时显著延长的现象.目前研究者已经发现错误后减慢、错误后正确率提高以及错误后干扰效应减少三种错误调控行为,其中错误后减慢是最稳定的错误后行为表现.早期研究主要从冲突监控理论、激活抑制假说、强化学习理论和失匹配理论等角度解释该现象,近年来,研究者又提出了注意朝向理论和评估适应假说.对于该领域未来的研究可以从错误类型、无意识加工、个体差异、新的分析技术的运用方面考虑,以便全面揭示错误后减慢现象的本质.     

Stereotype threat and feedback seeking in the workplace

This study examined stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) in workplace settings and investigated relationships of stereotype threat to feedback seeking and feedback acceptance. Results from a sample of 166 African American managers showed that solo status in the work group predicted perceptions of stereotype threat. In addition, stereotype threat related positively to indirect feedback seeking and discounting of performance feedback from superiors. These findings have important implications for understanding the causes of group differences in job performance.     

Error reactivity in self-paced performance: Highly-accurate individuals exhibit largest post-error slowing

Reaction time is typically increased following an erroneous response. This post-error slowing is traditionally explained by a strategic adjustment of response threshold towards more conservative behaviour. A recently proposed orienting account provides an alternative explanation for post-error slowing. According to this account, committing an error evokes an orienting response (OR), which inhibits information processing in the subsequent trial, resulting in slow and inaccurate performance. We tested a straightforward prediction of the orienting account in the context of self-paced performance, adopting an individual-differences approach: Post-error slowing should be larger the less frequent an error is. To this end, participants were classified into three groups differing in overall performance accuracy. Larger post-error slowing and stronger post-error accuracy decrease were observed for the high-accuracy group than for the two other groups. Practice pronounced the post-error accuracy decline, especially for the high-accuracy group. The results are consistent with the orienting account of post-error slowing but are problematic for accounts based on strategic evaluation mechanisms.     

Testing multiple motives in feedback seeking: The interaction of instrumentality and self protection motives

Research indicates that information received from feedback seeking is valuable for both individual and organizational outcomes. Previous research examining the feedback seeking process has consistently suggested that individual's feedback behaviors are directly influenced by three motives. Specifically, individuals are instrumentally motivated to obtain valued information but are also motivated to protect and/or enhance their ego and to protect others' impressions of them (Ashford, Blatt and VandeWalle, 2003). The current study simultaneously examined these motives by testing the interactive effects of them on feedback seeking behavior. As predicted, they did significantly interact and the results present a deeper understanding of these motives and how employees weigh various factors in deciding whether to seek feedback within the organization.     

Anxiety and expectancy violations: Neural response to false feedback is exaggerated in worriers

This study investigated how individual differences in anxiety modulate the neural response to errors and performance feedback. The design included false feedback on some trials in order to test the hypothesis that anxious people show stronger neural reactions to feedback that is worse than expected. Participants completed a trial-and-error learning task that required learning the correct key to press in response to face images. EEG was recorded during the task, and the response-locked error-related negativity (ERN) and feedback-locked ERN were computed to measure neural responses to error commission and feedback. As expected, errors produced a response-locked ERN and false feedback produced a feedback-locked ERN in the group as a whole. High levels of trait worry predicted a disproportionately larger ERN following false feedback, but did not predict the magnitude of the response-locked ERN following errors. These results imply that worry-prone people react more strongly to violations of expectations, rather than to errors themselves.     

Adherence with universal precautions after immediate, personalized performance feedback

We evaluated the effects of immediate, personalized performance feedback on adherence with hand hygiene by health‐care staff in the context of a multiple baseline design across participants. Target behaviors reached mastery levels and were maintained near 100% throughout 2 months of maintenance probes.     

Electrophysiological responses to errors and feedback in the process of action regulation

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is believed to be involved in the executive control of actions, such as in monitoring conflicting response demands, detecting errors, and evaluating the emotional significance of events. In this study, participants performed a task in which evaluative feedback was delayed, so that it was irrelevant to immediate response control but retained its emotional value as a performance indicator. We found that a medial frontal feedback-related negativity similar to the error-related negativity (ERN) tracked affective response to the feedback and predicted subsequent performance. Source analysis of the feedback-related negativity and ERN revealed a common dorsomedial ACC source and a rostromedial ACC source specific to the ERN. The oscillatory nature of these sources provides further evidence that the ERN reflects ongoing theta activity generated in the mediofrontal regions. These results suggest that action regulation by the cingulate gyrus may require the entrainment of multiple structures of the Papez corticolimbic circuit.     

Online feedback and the regulation of degrees of freedom in motor control

We tested the hypothesis that the degree to which online feedback is used to control movement influences the regulation of degrees of freedom in a task. Ten participants performed an isometric force production task with their two index fingers with the goal of matching the total force to a target waveform. The role of online feedback was manipulated by changing three factors - the tracking mode, the profile of the target waveform, and the visual gain. The results showed that the coupling between the finger forces was lower in conditions where participants used online feedback to correct their movements compared to conditions where more feedforward strategies were used. The availability of online feedback is dependent on the nature of the task and this contributes to task-dependent changes in the regulation of the degrees of freedom.     

From riskier to safer driving decisions: The role of feedback and the experiential automatic processing system

Decision making in risky driving contexts is mainly guided by automatic processes. This requires the previous learning of cognitive rules and heuristics. The acquisition of safer cognitive heuristics depends on previous experience and adequate feedback to our responses. The first aim of this research was to analyze the effect of negative feedback on risk evaluation and decision processes in dangerous and harmless driving contexts. The second aim was to demonstrate the influence of prior experience upon the process of decision-making and feedback, comparing individuals with and without driving experience. One hundred and three participants (with and without driving license) were required to evaluate a set of 120 driving images with respect to the risk level of the situations and decide whether to brake or not. Half of the participants received negative feedback. The results showed that decisions were faster and more accurate than evaluations, and both were improved by the effect of feedback and previous experience in risk situations. However, the same feedback resulted in inaccurate risk evaluations and decisions in harmless situations. The cognitive processes underlying these effects point to a response bias rather than to discriminative factors. These results clarify the effect of negative feedback and previous experience on different phases of the decision-making process, showing the importance of these factors for the automatic processes and cognitive heuristics implied in driving. Our findings have potentially important applied value in the promotion of safe driving practices.     

从固定到可变：情感对认知影响的再认识

情感-认知领域的最新研究发现,已有研究通常认为的积极和消极情感对认知加工的固定影响,会在某些条件下发生反转。这致使情感-认知联系的固定观受到挑战,而情感-认知反馈假说（AACF）的出现则从联系可变的视角上为上述冲突提供了有效的解释。该假说认为,情感对认知之所以存在可变影响,其关键在于个体具备认知加工的预先准备状态,即可通达策略的存在。后续研究围绕众多认知现象,验证并支持了AACF的观点。针对这一理论构想,未来研究还应结合对概念本质的哲学反思以及不同视角的实证研究,对情感与认知的内在关系进行更为深入的探索。