The Effect of Corrective Feedback on Performance in Basic Cognitive Tasks: An Analysis of RT Components

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human Performance

Background:

• Understanding how feedback influences cognitive task performance is crucial for optimizing learning and efficiency.
• Previous research has explored feedback's impact on reaction time (RT) and accuracy, but its effect on response time distributions is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of trial-by-trial feedback on performance in Stroop and color-word matching tasks.
• To analyze both standard performance measures (RT, accuracy) and distributional properties of correct RTs.

Main Methods:

• Participants (N=70) completed a Stroop task (n=40) and a color-word matching task (n=30).
• Performance was assessed with standard reaction time (RT) and accuracy measures.
• The ex-Gaussian distributional model was fitted to correct RTs to analyze response time variability.

Main Results:

• While RTs were slightly faster with feedback, the difference was not statistically significant.
• Distributional analyses revealed that feedback significantly reduced the spread (tails) of the RT distributions.
• Accuracy remained high across feedback conditions.

Conclusions:

• Corrective feedback appears to primarily influence the consistency of responses rather than overall speed when accuracy is high.
• Feedback may reduce cognitive control adjustments like double-checking or attentional lapses.
• These findings have implications for designing feedback mechanisms in training and educational settings.