THE ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE OF RESULTS IN LEARNING: A SURVEY

Abstract : This survey attempts to effect a clarification of terminology, critical analysis, and generic overview of studies specifically concerned with knowledge of results and related learning factors. Included within this framework is a summary of the positions of leading theorists, with commentary relating the hypothetical to the applied. This review traces certain classicalASSUMPTIONS (relationship of reinforcement to learning, etc.) and presents divergent experimental evidence. An analysis of the relationship between knowledge of results and motivation, timing, type of information, specificity, and other variables points out the hazard of accepting as established learning doctrine that which may be based upon inadequate or inconclusive evidence. The survey emphasizes the obligation of training specialists to consider possible interaction and biasing effects in the application of traditional approaches to learning under specified conditions. (Author)