Effects of feedback on the control of skin temperature using the tension-relaxation experiment

The effects of feedback on the control of peripheral skin temperature were examined using a tension-relaxation experiment. Sixteen male undergraduates were assigned to feedback or no-feedback groups and asked to increase the temperature of the right index finger immediately after decreasing with (in the feedback group) or without (in the no-feedback group) feedback during 10 training sessions. A no-feedback transfer session (post-test) followed these sessions. During the training sessions, skin temperature corresponded to instructions in the feedback group, whereas it did not in the no-feedback group. Feedback control did not transfer to the no-feedback condition. These results were discussed in terms of the ceiling-effect hypothesis in the baseline-relaxation type experiment and of the subjects' cognitive events, including strategies.