Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2013 Aug;142(3):692-709. doi: 10.1037/a0030014. Epub 2012 Sep 17.
Error detection serves 2 different functions: prevention and cure. Prevention engages post-error slowing to reduce future errors, whereas cure engages processes that correct the error. Thus, prevention predicts post-error slowing, and cure does not. We investigated this distinction in skilled typists in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1, post-error performance was investigated in 800 typists who completed a short continuous typing test where correction was disallowed. In Experiments 2 and 3, post-error performance and post-correction performance were investigated by manipulating whether typists were allowed to correct their mistakes. Across experiments, there was limited evidence that typists used error detection for prevention; typists preferred the cure. After making mistakes, they corrected them and rapidly resumed typing at normal rates. Post-error slowing occurred only when correction was disabled; post-error speeding occurred when correction was enabled. This finding offers support for the novel hypothesis that post-error slowing reflects the inhibition of pre-potent tendencies to correct mistakes. Error-detection processes in general will be better understood by distinguishing between tasks that allow performers to cure their errors through correction rather than reduce their errors through prevention.
预防和纠正。预防通过错误后减速来减少未来的错误，而纠正则通过纠正错误的过程来进行。因此，预防可以预测错误后的减速，而纠正则不能。我们在 3 项实验中研究了熟练打字员的这种区别。在实验 1 中，我们调查了 800 名打字员在完成一个不允许纠错的简短连续打字测试后的表现。在实验 2 和 3 中，我们通过操纵打字员是否可以纠正他们的错误来调查错误后的表现和纠正后的表现。在所有实验中，只有有限的证据表明打字员使用错误检测来进行预防；打字员更倾向于使用纠正错误的方法。在犯错误后，他们会纠正错误，并迅速恢复正常速度打字。只有在禁止纠错时才会出现错误后减速；在允许纠错时会出现错误后加速。这一发现为一个新的假设提供了支持，即错误后减速反映了对纠正错误的潜在倾向的抑制。通过区分允许执行者通过纠正而不是通过预防来减少错误的任务，将更能理解错误检测过程。
