CAREER: Neural Investigations of Feedback-based Learning

基于成绩的反馈被广泛用于通过提供关于回答准确性的信息来帮助学习。除了这种信息作用外，反馈也起着重要的激励作用。获得正反馈的奖励和避免负反馈的惩罚可以成为动机学习的显著目标。在国家科学基金会的支持下，罗格斯大学的伊丽莎白·特里科米博士正在研究反馈的动机意义如何影响神经处理和随后的学习。她正在进行从积极和消极反馈中学习的功能磁共振成像(FMRI)研究。其中一组实验是研究在学习任务上花费的认知努力量如何影响与反馈相关的大脑信号。第二组实验正在研究激励因素如何不同地影响大脑中的积极和消极反馈信号，以及这如何影响从错误中学习和从积极强化中学习的相对贡献。学习或表现良好的动机的改变可能会改变学习者对他们收到的反馈的重视。因此，这些研究的结果将有助于深入了解动机如何影响大脑“奖励回路”中与价值相关的神经活动，以及这种大脑活动如何反过来影响从反馈中学到的量。在试图理解如何最好地根据个人需求量身定做教育实践时，除了能力之外，还需要考虑对学习和表现的各种影响。因为动机是决定信息获取和使用成功与否的一个关键因素，所以了解动机影响学习过程的神经机制是很重要的。这个项目在我们目前对反馈的激励和信息部分如何结合起来促进学习的理解方面取得了重大进展。预计这一结果将对课堂内外的教育实践产生影响。除了该项目的研究部分外，还有一个教育部分将有效的教与学战略，如以学生为中心的学习纳入研究生和本科生的课堂。此外，每月为研究生举办一次专业发展讲习班，以促进妇女留在科学界。

Performance-based feedback is widely used to aid learning by providing information about response accuracy. In addition to this informational role, feedback also plays an important motivational role. Earning the reward of positive feedback and avoiding the punishment of negative feedback can become salient goals to motivated learning. With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Elizabeth Tricomi of Rutgers University is investigating how the motivational significance of feedback influences neural processing and consequent learning. She is conducting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of learning from positive and negative feedback. One set of experiments is investigating how the amount of cognitive effort expended on a learning task influences feedback-related brain signals. A second set of experiments is investigating how motivational factors may differentially affect positive and negative feedback signals in the brain, and how this affects the relative contributions of learning from errors and from positive reinforcement. Changes in motivation to learn or to perform well may change the value that learners place on the feedback they receive. Therefore, the results of these studies will provide insight into how motivation influences value-related neural activity in the brain's "reward circuit," and how this brain activity may in turn influence the amount learned from the feedback.In trying to understand how to best tailor educational practices to the needs of the individual, a variety of influences on learning and performance other than ability need to be considered. Because motivation is one key factor in determining how successfully information will be acquired and used, understanding the neural mechanisms by which motivation influences learning processes is important. This project is providing a significant advance in our current understanding of how the motivational and informational components of feedback combine to facilitate learning. The results are expected to have implications for educational practices, in the classroom and beyond. In addition to the research component of the project, an educational component incorporates effective teaching and learning strategies, such as student-centered learning, into the classroom at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Furthermore, a monthly professional development workshop for graduate students is promoting the retention of women in the sciences.