PLT Probabilistic Learning Test
The use of feedback to guide learning can be assessed by a intermittent reinforcement learning procedure. The participants must identify which of the two targets is correct using auditory feedback, and maximise the number of choices of the correct alternative within the 18 opportunities in each problem, shown on the left of the display. At the start this feedback is accurate and always signals which are the correct and incorrect choices. In succeeding problems, new targets are shown, and learning is made more difficult by the presentation of false feedback: correct choices receive negative feedback and vice versa. In the easiest version, this incorrect feedback occurs on only 15% of occasions, but as it continues, task difficulty is increased by using a greater degree of false information (25-35%). The actual number of correct choices is not revealed until the problem has been completed. In the final stages, once the participants have learned the correct choice, the contingencies are reversed, and they must use the change in feedback to adjust their behavior.
