Feedback functions, optimization, and the relation of response rate to reinforcer rate

The present experiment arranged a series of inverted U-shaped feedback functions relating reinforcer rate to response rate to test whether responding was consistent with an optimization account or with a one-to-one relation of response rate to reinforcer rate such as linear system theory's rate equation or Herrnstein's hyperbola. Reinforcer rate was arranged according to a quadratic equation with a maximum at a unique response rate. The experiment consisted of two phases, during which 6 Long Evans rats lever pressed for food. In the first phase of the experiment, the rats responded on six fixed-interval-plus-quadratic-feedback schedules, and in the second phase the rats responded on three variable-interval-plus-quadratic-feedback schedules. Responding in both phases was inconsistent with a one-to-one relation of response rate to reinforcer rate. Instead, different response rates were obtained at equivalent reinforcer rates. Responding did vary directly with the vertex of the feedback function in both phases, a finding consistent with optimization of reinforcer rate. The present results suggest that the feedback function relating reinforcer rate to response rate imposed by a reinforcement schedule can be an important determinant of behavior. Furthermore, the present experiment illustrates the benefit of arranging feedback functions to investigate assumptions about the variables that control schedule performance.     

个体反馈寻求的基础和模式

目标定向作为未来时间洞察力的主要内容,其反馈寻求的结构已引起人格心理学家的重视。感知到的代价和价值构成了反馈寻求的基础,而反馈寻求的频率、方法、类型、时机、来源和征兆等构成了个体反馈寻求的主体成分。对这些成分的探讨有助于我们理解反馈寻求与目标获得之间的关系。     

Emotional and motivational reactions to failure: the role of illusions of control and explicitness of feedback

Previous research has found that illusions of control (IOC) can buffer against the emotional consequences of failure and may increase persistence in the face of failure. Theoretical analyses suggest that IOC are most closely related to a better mood and higher motivation if failure feedback is open to reinterpretation. Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that explicitness (vs. ambiguousness) of failure feedback moderates the consequences of IOC following a failure experience. In accord with predictions, it was found that IOC were subsequently related to a better mood (Study 1) and higher persistence (Study 2) if individuals received ambiguous task-inherent failure feedback. In contrast, explicit failure feedback seemed to neutralize the beneficial effects of IOC. These results are discussed with respect to the adaptiveness of IOC.

Feedback related brain activity in a gambling task: A temporal analysis of EEG correlates

Lucchiari, C. & Pravettoni, G. (2010). Feedback related brain activity in a gambling task: A temporal analysis of EEG correlates. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 449–454. The pattern of neural correlates of feedback processing has been the subject of a number of studies, using both neuroimaging and electrophysiological recordings. A complex functional network was found to be activated after a choice in order to process a feedback and sustain an adaptive behavior. However, many aspects of this network are still unclear and further research is needed to better understand this process. We conducted an EEG study using a simple gambling task. Twenty three subjects participated to the study. We analyzed both EEG power spectrum and ERP components evoked by presentation of a feedback signal (money gain or loss) during a simple gambling task. Our data confirmed that a negative ERP component is present about 270 ms after feedback, particularly relevant following a choice with negative outcome. Furthermore, the theta and delta oscillatory activity seem to be correlated to a dynamic decision‐making process within specific cortical networks. In particular, theta activity showed a valence dependent development between 150 and 350 ms post‐feedback onset. Differently from previous studies (Cohen, Elger & Ranganath, 2007; Marco‐Pallares, Cucurell, Cunillera et al., 2008), we did not find any valence effect in beta range. However, our data are consistent with Christie and Tata (2009) , probably due to the nature of the gambling task used in both studies. In conclusion, our data, in line with some prior findings showed that the feedback related response is correlated to a complex pattern of cortical activation probably mediated by theta and delta activity.     

USING NUMBER LINE PROCEDURES AND PEER TUTORING TO IMPROVE THE MATHEMATICS COMPUTATION OF LOW-PERFORMING FIRST GRADERS

Recommendations for mathematics instruction frequently include the use of manipulatives as a critical component. There are few experimental analyses of teaching strategies involving the use of manipulatives (e.g., the number line). This investigation used a multiple baseline design across three groups of students to examine the effectiveness of an experimental procedure for improving low-performing children's skills in solving missing addend arithmetic problems using the number line. To address concerns about inadequate time for instruction and insufficient practice in most mathematics instruction, trained peer tutors implemented the procedure. The results suggest that student performance improved when trained tutors taught the students number line procedures and gave them feedback on accuracy. Further, social validation data indicate that the students, their tutors, and their classroom teachers liked the procedures.     

Perceptual strength is different from sensorimotor strength: Evidence from the centre–periphery asymmetry in masked priming

Near-threshold prime stimuli can facilitate or hinder responses to target stimuli, creating either a positive compatibility effect (PCE) or a negative compatibility effect (NCE). An asymmetry has been reported between primes presented in near periphery, which produced a PCE, and foveal primes, which produced an NCE under comparable conditions. This asymmetry has been attributed to the difference in retinal sensitivity, but it remains unclear whether this means that equating discrimination performance for primes in fovea and periphery, in order to account for differences in perceptual sensitivity, would make the priming effects the same. Wider work indicates that perceptual ability can dissociate from visuomotor effects, predicting that equating perceptual ability for fovea and periphery would not equate priming. We tested these opposite possibilities by matching discrimination performance for masked Gabor patches in fovea and near periphery (6°) and using these as primes in a masked priming paradigm expected to elicit NCEs. We found the asymmetry remained: NCE for fovea and PCE for periphery. We replicated this with both blocked and randomized procedures to check for attentional effects. We conclude that equating perceptual strength (discriminability) of stimuli does not equate their sensorimotor impact due to differences in the relative importance of different visual pathways and differing temporal dynamics in perceptual and sensorimotor processes.     

Intentional Teaching Facilitates Young Children's Comprehension and Use of a Symbolic Object

Children are exposed to symbolic objects that they have to learn to use very early in life. The authors’ aim was to examine whether it is possible to intentionally teach young children the symbolic function of an object. They employed a search task in which children had to use a map to find a toy. Experiment 1 revealed that with no instruction 3-year-, 10-month-old children were quite successful; 3-year-, 6-month-olds showed a divided performance; and 3-year-, 0-month-olds failed. With this baseline, Experiment 2 compared the performance of 3-year-, 0-month-olds in three different conditions: no-instruction, complete instruction (before the task begins), and teaching (complete instruction plus corrective feedback); only children in the teaching condition succeeded. However, children 6 months younger, 2-year-, 6-month-olds, failed despite teaching that was provided (Study 3). This research shows that at some points in development instruction is not enough; intentional teaching in communicative contexts is the mechanism that boosts symbolic understanding in early childhood.     

Knowledge of Results for Motor Learning: Relationship Between Error Estimation and Knowledge of Results Frequency

The authors of the present study investigated the apparent contradiction between early and more recent views of knowledge of results (KR), the idea that how one is engaged before receiving KR may not be independent of how one uses that KR. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, participants (N = 64) practiced a simple force-production task and (a) were required, or not required, to estimate error about their previous response and (b) were provided KR either after every response (100%) or after every 5th response (20%) during acquisition. A no-KR retention test revealed an interaction between acquisition error estimation and KR frequencies. The group that received 100% KR and was required to error estimate during acquisition performed the best during retention. The 2 groups that received 20% KR performed less well. Finally, the group that received 100% KR and was not required to error estimate during acquisition performed the poorest during retention. One general interpretation of that pattern of results is that motor learning is an increasing function of the degree to which participants use KR to test response hypotheses (J. A. Adams, 1971; R. A. Schmidt, 1975). Practicing simple responses coupled with error estimation may embody response hypotheses that can be tested with KR, thus benefiting motor learning most under a 100% KR condition. Practicing simple responses without error estimation is less likely to embody response hypothesis, however, which may increase the probability that participants will use KR to guide upcoming responses, thus attenuating motor learning under a 100% KR condition. The authors conclude, therefore, that how one is engaged before receiving KR may not be independent of how one uses KR.     

Modulating younger and older adults’ performance in ignoring pictorial information during a word matching task

Using both behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) data, the current study sought to examine the neurophysiological underpinnings for the effect of distracting pictorial information on semantic word matching performance in younger and older adults. This was tested in the context of semantic relations between task-relevant word pairs, a task-irrelevant picture and the resultant N400 differences in ERP. Younger and older adults were shown a context word superimposed on a to-be-ignored picture, followed by a test word. Their task was to determine whether the prime and test words were semantically related. The to-be-ignored pictures were interfering (for ‘No’ trials), facilitating (for ‘Yes’ trials), or neutral (for both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ trials) to the expected responses. The interfering and facilitatory effects of to-be-ignored pictures were assessed under more automatic and more controlled conditions by manipulating the context–test interstimulus-interval (ISI) as 50 ms and 1000 ms, respectively. The analysis of the N400 at centro-parietal sites during test word display revealed similar N400 amplitudes for the ‘No’ response trials at the two ISIs, suggesting that younger and older adults showed an equivalent effect from interfering pictures. In contrast, younger adults showed greater reductions in the N400, as compared to older adults, for ‘Yes’ trials indicating differential effects in facilitation from to-be-ignored pictorial information, but only in the long ISI condition. The data are discussed in terms of age differences in resource demanding strategy use during a semantic word matching task, specifically during controlled retrieval.     

Human performance on negative slope schedules of points exchangeable for money: a failure of molar maximization

Panel pressing was generated and maintained in 5 adult humans by schedules of points exchangeable for money. Following exposure to a variable-interval 30-s schedule and to a linear variable-interval 30-s schedule (which permitted points to accumulate in an unseen "store" in the absence of responding), subjects were exposed to a series of conditions with a point-subtraction contingency arranged conjointly with the linear variable-interval schedule. Specifically, points were added to the store according to the linear-variable interval 30-s schedule and were subtracted from the store according to a ratio schedule. Ratio value varied across conditions and was determined individually for each subject such that the subtraction contingency would result in an approximately 50% reduction in the rate of point delivery. Conditions that included the subtraction contingency were termed negative slope schedules because the feedback functions were negatively sloped across all response rates greater than the inverse of the variable-interval schedule, in this case, two per minute. Overall response rates varied inversely with the subtraction ratio, indicating sensitivity to the negative slope conditions, but were in excess of that required by accounts based on strict maximization of overall reinforcement rate. Performance was also not well described by a matching-based account. Detailed analyses of response patterning revealed a consistent two-state pattern in which bursts of high-rate responding alternated with periods of prolonged pausing, perhaps reflecting the joint influence of local and overall reinforcement rates.