Delayed feedback in motor learning – Effects of feedback delay duration and self-estimation prior to delayed feedback on neural processing and behaviour

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Matthias Weigelt
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology ; Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 522490816

The aim of the present project is to investigate how different manipulations of the feedback delay (i.e., duration of the feedback delay; self-estimation prior to delayed feedback) affect (A) the neural processing of error evaluation in terms of intrinsic error prediction prior to outcome feedback and respective prediction errors after outcome feedback, (B) motor learning (i.e., motor performance and error detection capabilities) in early and late stages, and (C) the predictive value of neural correlates of error evaluation for motor learning. Although there is evidence for feedback delay effects on error processing and learning in the cognitive domain, respective research is missing in the motor domain, especially regarding extensive practice and measures for different dimensions of learning (i.e., motor accuracy, motor automaticity, and meta-cognitive performance in error-detection). Within the project, a series of four experiments tests two manipulations of delayed feedback: (1) the duration of feedback delay (short vs. long) and (2) the self-estimation prior to delayed feedback (outcome self-estimation vs. no outcome self-estimation). Experiments 1 and 3 address the effects of feedback delay (Exp.1) and self-estimation prior to delayed feedback (Exp. 3) in a within-subject design to investigate differences in neural processing during short-term acquisition, without the limitation of individual-differences, which are a common limitation of between-subject designs. Experiments 2 and 4 use between-subject designs with extended practice schedules to replicate the findings of Experiments 1 and 3, while they additionally examine the differences in long-term learning and the predictive value of neural processing during short-term acquisition for long-term learning. Participants practice an arm-movement sequence task, while event-related potentials (ERPs) of feedback processing are recorded with the electroencephalogram (EEG). Motor performance is tested at different stages of learning under single-task conditions and under dual-task conditions with a working-memory task (i.e., n-back task). Different feedback-related ERP components reflect underlying mechanisms of information processing in the human evaluative system. Testing retention performance with respect to accuracy and automatization, as well as error-detection capability will provide a better picture of the coherence of feedback processing and motor learning. The project is of theoretical relevance, as it will provide deeper insights into the mechanisms of feedback processing, and of practical relevance, as it will inform us about the effects of feedback delay and self-estimation prior to delayed feedback on motor learning. The experiments proposed are unique with regards to the larger amount of practice sessions included per participant, to scrutinize differential effects on early and later stages of learning.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Lisa Maurer