Frequent Augmented Feedback Can Degrade Learning: Evidence and Interpretations

The role of augmented information feedback for motor learning has been evaluated recently by an examination of its role on performance on transfer or retention tests. Several lines of evidence from various research paradigms show that, as compared to feedback provided frequently (after every trial), less frequent feedback provides benefits in learning as measured on tests of long-term retention. Such effects are of course contrary to most accounts of the learning process in human skills. In this paper, these lines of evidence are first briefly reviewed, and then several interpretations are provided in terms of the underlying processes that are degraded by frequent feedback. These decrements for frequent feedback seem to be caused by feedback’s tendency to generate maladaptive short-term corrections, by a blockage of several sets of information processing activities, or by both of these factors in some combination.

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