Fig. 7: Trials In The Three Learning Blocks.
From: Reversal learning is influenced by cognitive flexibility and develops throughout early adolescence
The figure shows how stimuli changed their associated outcome throughout the paradigm. (a) Blue stimuli changed their associated outcome compared to the previous learning block. The percentage next to the stimuli indicates how often a stimulus was associated with stomach-ache in a particular block. The vertical or diagonal arrows show whether a stimulus remained in the same context or changed it between learning blocks. (b) Within one learning block, there were three phases depending on the occurrence of invalid feedback (yellow), exemplified for a single stimulus. A response change after negative feedback within the first ten stimulus presentations was counted as flexible reaction. An example pattern of fictive participant responses and resulting feedback demonstrates the measurement of flexible reactions: In trial 1, the participant correctly responds (−) but gets invalid negative feedback. He changes his response to (+) in trial 2, thereby reacting flexibly to the negative feedback (although this answer is false). After valid negative feedback, he sticks with his response (+) in trial 3, thus not reacting flexibly. Repeated negative feedback prompts him to change the response back to (−) in trial 4, which counts as flexible response. He gets valid positive feedback and correctly answers (−) again in trial 5. Despite valid positive feedback, he erroneously changes his response to (+) in trial 6. He receives invalid positive feedback and sticks with the response (+) for three trials, despite valid negative feedback in trials 7 and 8. Only after the negative feedback in trial 9, he changes his response in trial 10, reacting flexibly again. In sum, this participant responded flexibly three times, while negative feedback was given six times, so that his quota of flexible responses is 3/6 = 0.5.
