Effects of different kinds of feedback on unconscious action learning and unconscious perception learning

Abstract

In our previous study, we compared the effect of action learning and perception learning when the stimulus was made invisible by continuous flash suppression. One group of participants was trained to insert a card into an invisible open rectangle (“action training”) that was either vertical or horizontal, and another group was trained to orally report the orientation of the invisible open rectangle (“perceptual training”). Before and after training, they were tested in three tasks to examine the effect of learning: 1) contrast sensitivity, 2) action performance (i.e., insert card), and 3) perception performance (i.e., oral report). We found that action learning decreased the contrast sensitivity of the stimulus and improved the action and perceptual performance, however, perception learning did not generate significant changes in any of the three tasks. In this study, visual feedback was provided by showing the stimulus to the participant after they performed the task in each trial. Therefore, it is possible that participants learned the association between the feedback stimulus and the response. To test this possibility, we conducted two more experiments, in which participants performed the same learning and test tasks as our previous study but received either no feedback (experiment 1) or an audio beep feedback when they responded incorrectly (experiment 2). We found that in both experiments, participants’ performance in all three tests was improved after action learning, and participants’ performance in contrast sensitivity and perception tests was improved after perception learning. Given that participants’ performance was not improved in perceptual learning with visual feedback, our study suggests that feedback is not necessary for unconscious action learning, but visual feedback negatively affects unconscious perception learning with oral reports.