AUTHOR=Li Fuhong , Xie Liufang , Yang Xue , Cao Bihua 

TITLE=The Effect of Feedback and Operational Experience on Children’s Rule Learning

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00534

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00534

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>This study aimed to examine the relative effect of feedback and operational experience on children’s rule learning in a balance scale task, in which 88 children under the age of 7 years were asked to judge the state of equilibrium under four conditions. In the <italic>Control</italic> condition, children were required to observe the scale and predict which side would tilt down or keep balance, without feedback on the correctness of their answer. In the <italic>Operation</italic> (<italic>Op</italic>) condition, children were required to place the weights on the scale just like the experimenter did before they made predictions. In the <italic>Feedback</italic> (<italic>Fe</italic>) condition, feedback was provided for each prediction, but children were not allowed to operate the scale. In the <italic>Op-Fe</italic> condition, children could operate the scale and they were provided feedback for each prediction. The results showed that, (1) children in <italic>Control</italic> condition merely adopted the lowest level of rule, the Weight Rule; (2) when they were either given feedback or the opportunity to operate the scale, they used a higher level rule, such as the Distance Rule, more frequently; and feedback was more effective than the operational experience was in promoting rule learning; (3) when they were allowed to operate the scale, and were simultaneously provided feedback, rule learning increased markedly, suggesting that feedback-based operation is the most efficient method for facilitating children’s rule learning.</p>