The Effect of Corrective Feedback in Basic Cognitive Tasks: A Study in Early Childhood

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Corrective feedback is crucial for learning and cognitive development.
• Go-no-go tasks assess inhibitory control and response inhibition.
• Understanding feedback effects in early childhood is vital for educational and therapeutic interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of immediate, trial-by-trial corrective feedback on performance in a go-no-go task.
• To compare the effects of corrective feedback across different age groups (preschoolers and university students).
• To analyze reaction time (RT) using ex-Gaussian distribution to reveal underlying cognitive processes.

Main Methods:

• A go-no-go task was administered to 40 preschool children (4- and 5-year-olds) and 20 university students.
• Participants completed blocks with and without corrective feedback in a counterbalanced design.
• Dependent variables included accuracy rate and reaction time, with RT further analyzed using ex-Gaussian fit (τ parameter).

Main Results:

• Children exhibited increased accuracy and slower reaction times with corrective feedback, indicating a more cautious approach.
• University students showed faster reaction times, but feedback effects were not statistically significant.
• Both groups demonstrated a reduction in reaction time distribution tails (τ parameter) under corrective feedback, suggesting improved processing efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Trial-by-trial corrective feedback enhances cognitive control, particularly in younger children, by refining response inhibition.
• The ex-Gaussian fit parameterization (τ) offers a sensitive measure for evaluating feedback effects on reaction time distributions, even in early development.
• Corrective feedback appears beneficial for basic cognitive tasks like go-no-go in early childhood but less impactful in older individuals.