THE ROLE OF TASK EXPERIENCE AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE FOR DETECTING INVALIDAUGMENTED FEEDBACK WHILE LEARNING A MOTOR SKILL

Two hypotheses were investigated. These were generated from results re ported by Buekers, Magill, and Sneyers (1994) and an uncertainty accou nt of those and other effects on skill learning of erroneous knowledge of results (KR). The first hypothesis proposes that if experienced pe rformers have developed the capability of detecting and correcting err ors, then they should not be influenced by erroneous KR in the same wa y as novices. The second proposes that if information about the invali d feedback is given to subjects prior to the beginning of the practice trials, then the capability for assessing feedback can be accelerated such that subjects who receive this advance information should not be misled by the erroneous KR. The first hypothesis was investigated in Experiment 1 by having subjects practise an anticipation timing task f or 450 trials. One group received correct KR on all trials, and anothe r group received no KR. Half of the subjects in each group were unexpe ctedly switched to erroneous KR after 400 trials. Results indicated th at the erroneous KR influenced both groups during acquisition and on a retention test one minute later. However, on a retention test given o ne week later, only the group that had practised with no KR before bei ng switched to erroneous KR continued to show the negative influence o f the invalid KR. The second hypothesis was examined in Experiment 2 b y telling subjects prior to beginning practice trials that it was poss ible that the KR they received would be erroneous. Results showed that this intervention strategy was effective on the no-KR retention tests only for subjects who had no-KR trials alternated with trials on whic h they received the erroneous KR. The results of these experiments pro vide evidence that uncertainty about the validity of sensory feedback increases the likelihood that subjects will be misled by invalid augme nted feedback. Moreover, this uncertainty can be overcome by increased experience or by providing advance knowledge about the nature of the invalid feedback.