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"A" for Effort: Rewarding Effortful Retrieval Attempts Improves Learning From General Knowledge Errors in Women
Damon Abraham1, Kateri McRae1, Jennifer A Mangels2
1Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, United States.
Frontiers in Psychology
|July 12, 2019
Summary
Rewarding retrieval effort, not accuracy, enhances learning, especially for women. This study explored how framing rewards impacts learning from errors, finding gender differences in motivation and performance benefits.
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.
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