Effects of varying the temporal relation between verbalizations and performance in a conditional discrimination task

Abstract

Human subjects were exposed to a first order conditional discrimination task in order to evaluate the effects of varying the temporal-relation between verbal report and performance. Subjects were asked to verbalize rule-performance on different times regarding instrumental performance, Six experimental groups were exposed to three experimental conditions under three of the following verbalization requirements: a) concurrent to performance, b) immediately after performance, c) at the end of the session, d) at the beginning of the session, and e) immediately before performance. The control group was exposed to the same procedure, except that verbalization was not required. Data indicated that groups verbalizing rule performance retrospectively displayed a similar gradual acquisition task as the control group, whereas groups verbalizing rule-performance prospectively were unsuccessful. All experimental groups showed correspondence between rule-performance verbalization and performance. Sequential and consequences effects were analyzed. These findings suggest that verbalizations may produce differential effects on performance, in such a way that instructional control may be an outcome of complex interactions affected by several variables.