"A" for Effort: Rewarding Effortful Retrieval Attempts Improves Learning From General Knowledge Errors in Women.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Reward prospect enhances task engagement and memory encoding.
• Previous research focused on rewards for accurate responses.
• Learning from errors with corrective feedback is also beneficial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if rewarding retrieval effort, irrespective of accuracy, improves learning from corrective feedback.
• To compare the effects of effort-contingent rewards with other reward framing (luck, random award) and a control condition.
• To examine the role of reward context and gender in learning from errors.

Main Methods:

• A general knowledge task with four groups: Effort, Luck, Award, and Control.
• Rewards were given for semantically plausible answers (retrieval effort), regardless of accuracy.
• Learning was assessed via a delayed retest (24-48 h) measuring incidental learning outcomes.

Main Results:

• The Effort group reported increased concentration and positive feelings compared to the Control group.
• Women in the Effort group showed performance benefits in error correction, particularly for low-confidence errors.
• The Luck and Award groups showed no significant motivational or behavioral benefits for either gender.

Conclusions:

• Effort-contingent rewards can enhance learning from errors, but effectiveness is modulated by reward framing and gender.
• Women may experience task-level motivational changes from effort-based rewards, improving learning of less familiar information.
• Reward context, emphasizing competence and internal control, is crucial for enhancing learning from errors.