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Category: Project

Description: The ability to monitor and adjust our performance is crucial for adaptive behaviour, a key component of human cognitive control. One widely studied metric of this behaviour is post-error slowing (PES), i.e., the finding that humans tend to slow down their performance after making an error. This study is a first attempt in generalizing the effect of PES to an online adaptive learning environment where children practice mathematical and language skills. Eight million response patterns were collected from 150,000 users aged 5 to 13 years old over the course of six months, across 23 different learning activities. The findings show that PES could be observed in most learning activities, and that the extent of PES varied as a function of several variables. The occurrence of adaptive behaviour differed between mathematical and language tasks and depended on the amount of time pressure. Learner’s characteristics related to the level of difficulty at which children chose to practice, predicted the occurrence of adaptive behaviour. Development differences in PES showed a non-linear pattern peaking at age 9 suggesting increasing awareness of errors and ability to change behaviour.