Investigation of the Impact of Feedback on Decision Accuracy and Reaction Time in a Perceptual Training Task

This study investigated the impact of feedback interventions on a perceptual aviation training task. Previous research on feedback suggests that knowledge of results and conceptual feedback can facilitate learning in certain contexts. Using an aviation discrimination training module, we sought to examine this influence in perceptual training and collected data from 52 volunteer participants. Initial results suggested that there was no noticeable difference between feedback and non-feedback conditions with respect to post-training performance. However, an interesting finding stemming from the average reaction times during training was that knowledge of results may alter response strategies in training: Whereas the no-feedback and conceptual feedback groups required significantly more time for their responses during training than either in the pre- or post-test (suggesting that they needed time to “think through” their responses in the training), the knowledge-of-results group was not only faster than the other groups in training, but its respondents also did not show the increase in response times during training that was so characteristic of the other two conditions. We concluded that this suggested that knowledge of results allowed participants to respond quickly and without the need of time to “think through” their responses. Based on the outcome of this study, we discuss the training implications for training perceptual tasks that rely on accurate and timely action.