Mj. Buekers et Ra. Magill, THE ROLE OF TASK EXPERIENCE AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE FOR DETECTING INVALIDAUGMENTED FEEDBACK WHILE LEARNING A MOTOR SKILL, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology, 48(1), 1995, pp. 84-97
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.