Abstract
Thorndike described in his law of effect [44] that actions followed by positive events are more likely to be repeated in the future, whereas actions that are followed by negative outcomes are less likely to be repeated. This implies that behavior is evaluated in the light of its potential consequences, and non-reward events (i.e., errors) must be detected for reinforcement learning to take place. In short, humans have to monitor their performance in order to detect and correct errors, and this allows them to successfully adapt their behavior to changing environmental demands and acquire new behavior, i.e., to learn.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant SFB 378, EM 2). We wish to thank Anita Althausen and Martina Hubo for their support during data collection and Ben Eppinger for helpful comments.
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Ferdinand, N.K., Weiten, A., Mecklinger, A., Kray, J. (2010). Error-Induced Learning as a Resource-Adaptive Process in Young and Elderly Individuals. In: Crocker, M., Siekmann, J. (eds) Resource-Adaptive Cognitive Processes. Cognitive Technologies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89408-7_4
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