Examining changes in corticospinal excitability and balance performance in response to social-comparative feedback

Association between the Effects of Positive Social-Comparative Feedback and Learners' Competitiveness

This study examined the effects of positive social-comparative feedback on learners' intrinsic motivation on a motor learning task, as well as its association with learners' competitiveness. The participants, who performed a balance task in a positive social-comparative feedback and a control group, were assessed for performance outcome, perceived competence, and competitiveness. The positive social-comparative feedback group demonstrated more effective balance performance than the control group on the retention test. In addition, the participants in the positive social-comparative feedback group reported significantly higher perceived competence than the participants in the control group after practice. Further, a subscale of learners' competitiveness-instrumental competitiveness-predicted the performance on a retention test in the positive social-comparative feedback group, but not in the control group. Our results suggest that positive social-comparative feedback is not beneficial to all learners, and may even be less effective for learners with lower competitiveness.