Summary: A new study reveals that individuals with low confidence in their performance are more likely to seek corrective feedback, which significantly enhances their learning. By analyzing participants’ decisions during a memory task tied to monetary rewards, researchers found that the desire for feedback was driven by uncertainty, not emotional factors like stress.
Negative feedback, while often uncomfortable, proved the most effective for improving test performance. These findings highlight the critical role of feedback strategies in education, the workplace, and rehabilitation.
Key Facts:
- Low confidence in performance increases feedback-seeking behavior, driving better learning outcomes.
- Negative feedback, despite being uncomfortable, is particularly effective in promoting learning.
- Emotional responses like stress were not significant predictors of feedback-seeking behavior.
Source: Kessler Foundation
A new study from co-lead author Christopher J. Cagna, PhD, of Kessler Foundation examines the determinants of feedback-seeking behavior and their impact on learning.
In collaboration with fellow co-lead author, Jamil P. Bhanji, PhD, of Rutgers University, the study highlights that low confidence in task performance significantly motivates individuals to seek corrective feedback, which in turn enhances learning outcomes.
The findings provide actionable insights for optimizing feedback strategies in environments where learning is critical to success.
The article, “Decisions to Seek Cognitive Performance Feedback: Potential Determinants of Feedback Value and Consequences for Learning,” was published in the November 2024 issue of Learning and Motivation.
Additional authors included Mauricio R. Delgado, PhD, and Elizabeth Tricomi, PhD, of Rutgers University and Da’Quallon Smith of London School of Economics.
In the study conducted at Rutgers University, 59 participants performed a memory task that required them to decide whether to pay for feedback while learning word pairs they were later tested on.
Participants earned money that was contingent on their performance during the test phase. So, they had to decide whether the cost of feedback during the learning phase was worth the increased chance of performing better during the test phase and earning more money.
The results showed that participants were more likely to purchase feedback when they were uncertain about their learning accuracy. Additionally, negative feedback (i.e., corrective feedback after an incorrect response) improved test performance by promoting learning.
Emotional responses and physiological arousal, measured through skin conductance, were not significant predictors of feedback-seeking behavior, suggesting that these factors may not play as large of a role in shaping decisions to seek performance feedback.
“Our findings suggest that lack of confidence in one’s performance plays a pivotal role in determining the value of feedback information to an individual,” said Dr. Cagna, postdoctoral fellow in the Foundation’s Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Research.
“Negative feedback can be difficult to accept, but it often provides the most valuable learning opportunities. Teaching people to embrace feedback – even when it’s critical – could greatly enhance learning outcomes in many fields.”
The research emphasized that the informational value of feedback often outweighs the emotional discomfort of being wrong, particularly when tied to a clear incentive, such as monetary rewards.
“These insights have practical applications in education, the workplace, and rehabilitation settings, where feedback-seeking behavior is essential for success,” Dr. Cagna concluded.
Funding: This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Grant #DA027764), the National Science Foundation (Grant #BCS1756065), and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (Grant #MB-2107-38097).
About this learning and confidence research news
Author: Deb Hauss
Source: Kessler Foundation
Contact: Deb Hauss – Kessler Foundation
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Decisions to Seek Cognitive Performance Feedback: Potential Determinants of Feedback Value and Consequences for Learning” by Christopher J. Cagna et al. Learning and Motivation
Abstract
Decisions to Seek Cognitive Performance Feedback: Potential Determinants of Feedback Value and Consequences for Learning
Performance feedback is essential for effective learning. Feedback contains both informational and affective properties.
Following negative feedback (indicating an incorrect response), the unpleasant experience of being wrong can diminish the value of constructive information that feedback also provides. This can hinder motivation to seek feedback, which can impede learning. Therefore, research into factors that directly shape the subjective value of feedback is critical.
The current study investigated potential behavioral and physiological contributors to feedback valuation and to subsequent feedback-seeking behavior. Fifty-nine participants completed a willingness-to-pay associative memory task that measured feedback valuation via trial-wise decisions to either purchase or forgo feedback during a learning phase in service of maximizing a performance-contingent monetary reward during a future test phase. Skin conductance response (SCR) was also measured during feedback decisions.
Lower confidence in response accuracy significantly predicted higher likelihood of purchasing feedback during learning. Neither self-reported emotional responses to feedback nor SCR during feedback decisions predicted feedback purchases. Purchase decisions yielding negative feedback significantly predicted better performance during test.
These results suggest that confidence during learning significantly impacts performance feedback valuation and should be considered when devising methods to motivate feedback-seeking in settings where learning is critical to success.
