Differences in Feedback use for Correct and Incorrect Responses

Abstract

Feedback’s effects on behavior during learning are not well understood. Recent research results suggest feedback on incorrect responses may affect cognitive processes and behavior differently than feedback on correct responses (Butler, Karpicke, & Roediger, 2007; Pashler, Cepeda,Wixted, & Rohrer, 2005). In the current study we investigated how feedback on different types of response accuracies affected learning in a simple rule based task under varying difficulty levels. Feedback was manipulated by being provided after correct responses only, incorrect responses only, or all responses. Results suggested feedback on incorrect responses was used differently than feedback on correct responses and was influenced by the difficulty of the task. Specifically, feedback on incorrect responses resulted in more learning than feedback on correct responses when task difficulty was higher; however, this effect was eliminated when task difficulty was lower.