Effects of Instructive Feedback Related and Unrelated to the Target Behaviors

Abstract

Instructive feedback involves presenting extra, nontarget stimuli in the consequent events for students' responses. We implemented two studies to compare the acquisition of instructive feedback stimuli that are related and unrelated to the target stimuli being taught. We used a constant time delay procedure to teach the target behaviors. Participants were five students between the ages of 9 and 10 years old who enrolled in a class for students needing emotional support. In the first experiment, the teacher used a massed trial format to teach two conditions on alternating days, one with related and one with unrelated instructive feedback. The results indicated that (a) all children learned the target behaviors, and (b) all students learned more of the unrelated instructive feedback stimuli than the related stimuli. In the second experiment, the procedures were repeated, reversing the academic domains of the related and unrelated stimuli. We found that (a) all students learned the target behavior, and (b) four of the five students learned an equal amount or more of the related instructive feedback stimuli. The implications of considering novelty, interest, and difficulty of instructive feedback stimuli are discussed.