Montreal Neurological Institute, Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada.
Exp Brain Res. 2024 Dec;242(12):2737-2747. doi: 10.1007/s00221-024-06931-7. Epub 2024 Oct 10.
Motor skill learning and performance are improved when successful actions are paired with extrinsic rewards, such as money. Positive feedback indicating successful task performance is thought to induce intrinsic reward associated with goal attainment, evidenced by increases in positive affect that correlate with neural reward signaling. However, it is not clear whether the subjective, internal reward processes elicited by positive feedback promote motor learning and performance.Here, we tested the hypothesis that intrinsic reward elicited by positive feedback promotes motor learning and performance. Participants practiced a visuomotor interception task using a joystick, and received feedback during practice indicating success or failure depending on their accuracy. During practice, the accuracy demands were adapted to control and vary the frequency of positive feedback across randomly ordered blocks of practice at either 50%, 70%, or 90%. Performance was measured for each condition as the average accuracy during practice. Learning was estimated by measuring the accuracy pre and post practice in the absence of feedback. We queried participants periodically on their enjoyment of the task to index affective responses to performance feedback.The intrinsic reward elicited by positive feedback, operationalized by the increase in enjoyment immediately following positive versus negative feedback, was positively correlated with learning from pre to post practice. However, increasing the overall amount of positive feedback by lower accuracy demands did not improve performance. These results suggest that experiencing intrinsic reward due to positive feedback benefits motor learning only when it is contingent on good performance.
当成功的动作与外在奖励（如金钱）相结合时，运动技能的学习和表现会得到提高。积极的反馈表明任务表现成功，被认为会引起与目标达成相关的内在奖励，这表现为积极情绪的增加与神经奖励信号相关。然而，积极反馈引起的主观、内在奖励过程是否促进运动学习和表现尚不清楚。在这里，我们测试了这样一个假设，即积极反馈引起的内在奖励促进运动学习和表现。参与者使用操纵杆练习视觉运动拦截任务，并在练习过程中根据准确性收到成功或失败的反馈。在练习过程中，根据控制和在 50%、70%或 90%的随机顺序练习块中变化积极反馈的频率来调整准确性要求。对于每个条件，通过练习期间的平均准确性来衡量性能。通过在没有反馈的情况下练习前后测量准确性来估计学习。我们定期询问参与者对任务的享受程度，以衡量对绩效反馈的情感反应。积极反馈引起的内在奖励，通过积极反馈与消极反馈后立即增加的享受来操作化，与练习前后的学习呈正相关。然而，通过降低准确性要求来增加积极反馈的总量并不能提高表现。这些结果表明，只有当积极反馈的内在奖励取决于良好的表现时，它才有益于运动学习。
