<p><strong>Short answer</strong><br>
Giving subjects feedback may affect their performance over time because of learning effects. The choice of giving feedback may be far less trivial than subjects getting bored yes or no. And quite frankly, subjects will get bored after a 100 trials, let alone 500, feedback or no feedback... </p>

<p><strong>Background</strong><br>
You have to be aware that subjects can show learning effects in speech tests <a href="https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">(De Jong <em>et al</em>, in press)</a>. I am unaware of the specific task you give them, but perhaps below answer will help you make a rational decision on this. </p>

<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Procedural learning</a></strong> affects the way people perform because they may get better in the task, simply because they have to learn how the task works ('<em>Oh wait, the trial starts already!</em>' '<em>Oh wait, where was that answer button again</em>?' '<em>Oh wait, what was the green button for again?</em>'). If subjects show procedural learning effects, they will get better over time. This is oftentimes regardless of whether you give any feedback; subjects simply need to 'get the hang of it'.</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Conceptual learning</a></strong> will affect the performance too. This type of learning is strongly affected by whether you give them feedback. For example, if your subjects are unfamiliar with the languages and you are not providing them feedback then they will never learn them. On the other hand, when for example they hear words from a closed set and each word is repeatedly presented, and the experimenter provides the correct answer ('<em>This trial you heard senorita and that is Spanish and means female</em>' or whatever) and the subjects repeatedly hears this word then for sure at a certain point they will learn from feedback that it is Spanish. However, without any feedback they will never learn it. </li>
</ul>

<p>Even feedback after 5 minutes may affect their performance ('<em>Oh I'm doing great, I can probably relax a bit</em>'). In my opinion, subjects should never be given feedback, not until, perhaps, after the entire experiment is over.</p>

<p><sub><strong>Reference</strong><br>
<strong>-</strong> <a href="https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">De Jong <em>et al</em>., <em>Ear &amp; Hearing</em>, in press</a></sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-16T14:10:35.490Z
thank you, this is very helpful! I think I will make a test trial for them to compensate the procedural learning effect to some degree during the experiment.
To make a bit more clear the idea: I am presenting them with pseudo-speech stimuli that are created out of 2 languages. One is their native (to which I expect them to show a high sensitivity) and the other is not familiar.
irishpippin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-16T14:17:07.767Z
@Scio - thanks for the comment. A few practice trials are highly recommended for sure.
AliceD
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-16T13:40:57.613Z
2017-11-16T14:57:27.697Z
2017-11-16T14:57:27.697Z
AliceD
<h2>Context</h2>

<p>I am planning an experiment where the subjects would need to determine the language of the stimulus after listening to it once, given two alternatives, L1 or L2. 
In total I have 500 trials separated in 5 blocks.</p>

<h2>Problem</h2>

<p>One of my supervisors insists that I have to give the subjects a feedback immediately after they made the choice ("because the experiment is boring"), and the other one says I should not give them any feedback at all ("they get payed for this, they have to suck it up"). </p>

<p>I, for myself, think that maybe giving them scores after the end of a 5-minute block would be helpful to support their motivation and give a little more of motivation for them to concentrate on the following block. </p>

<h2>Question</h2>

<p>Does anyone here have experience with giving feedback to subjects during the experiment?</p>

<cognitive-psychology><cognitive-neuroscience><experimental-psychology><psychophysics><experiment-design>
What are the benefits of giving feedback to subjects during a discrimination task?
irishpippin
# What are the benefits of giving feedback to subjects during a discrimination task?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-11-16)

## Context

I am planning an experiment where the subjects would need to determine the language of the stimulus after listening to it once, given two alternatives, L1 or L2.
In total I have 500 trials separated in 5 blocks.

## Problem

One of my supervisors insists that I have to give the subjects a feedback immediately after they made the choice ("because the experiment is boring"), and the other one says I should not give them any feedback at all ("they get payed for this, they have to suck it up").

I, for myself, think that maybe giving them scores after the end of a 5-minute block would be helpful to support their motivation and give a little more of motivation for them to concentrate on the following block.

## Question

Does anyone here have experience with giving feedback to subjects during the experiment?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, cognitive-neuroscience, experimental-psychology, psychophysics, experiment-design


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-11-16. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

**Short answer**  
Giving subjects feedback may affect their performance over time because of learning effects. The choice of giving feedback may be far less trivial than subjects getting bored yes or no. And quite frankly, subjects will get bored after a 100 trials, let alone 500, feedback or no feedback...

**Background**  
You have to be aware that subjects can show learning effects in speech tests [(De Jong *et al*, in press)](https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html). I am unaware of the specific task you give them, but perhaps below answer will help you make a rational decision on this.

* **[Procedural learning](https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html)** affects the way people perform because they may get better in the task, simply because they have to learn how the task works ('*Oh wait, the trial starts already!*' '*Oh wait, where was that answer button again*?' '*Oh wait, what was the green button for again?*'). If subjects show procedural learning effects, they will get better over time. This is oftentimes regardless of whether you give any feedback; subjects simply need to 'get the hang of it'.
* **[Conceptual learning](https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html)** will affect the performance too. This type of learning is strongly affected by whether you give them feedback. For example, if your subjects are unfamiliar with the languages and you are not providing them feedback then they will never learn them. On the other hand, when for example they hear words from a closed set and each word is repeatedly presented, and the experimenter provides the correct answer ('*This trial you heard senorita and that is Spanish and means female*' or whatever) and the subjects repeatedly hears this word then for sure at a certain point they will learn from feedback that it is Spanish. However, without any feedback they will never learn it.

Even feedback after 5 minutes may affect their performance ('*Oh I'm doing great, I can probably relax a bit*'). In my opinion, subjects should never be given feedback, not until, perhaps, after the entire experiment is over.

**Reference**  
**-** [De Jong *et al*., *Ear & Hearing*, in press](https://teachingmathliteracy.weebly.com/conceptual-vs-procedural-knowledge.html)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: thank you, this is very helpful! I think I will make a test trial for them to compensate the procedural learning effect to some degree during the experiment. To make a bit more clear the idea: I am presenting them with pseudo-speech stimuli that are created out of 2 languages. One is their native (to which I expect them to show a high sensitivity) and the other is not familiar.  
> **username_1**: @Scio - thanks for the comment. A few practice trials are highly recommended for sure.  

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