Regulating Response Speed Promotes Associative Learning

Abstract

Casadevante et al. (Curr Psychol 42: 4272–4285, 2023) used an objective test and found that regulation of response speed was related to better performance in a category learning task. The present study aims at analysing whether the relation between regulation of response speed and learning exists in an associative learning task. We developed ad hoc the Treasure Forest, an objective test consisting of a computerized associative learning task. We conducted a frst study with 86 university students to assess the relation between spontaneous response speed and learning. Results showed that participants who acted slowly learned more than their mates who acted faster (t (83) = 8.898, p < .001, η2 = .672). Moreover, some students who began the task acting too fast to learn decreased their response speed by the second half of the task and simultaneously their learning index improved (t (11) = 2.325, p < .05, d = .721). Hence, self-regulating the response speed was linked to associative learning. We conducted a second study to analyse the infuence of an external speed regulation on learning. The intervention group (N = 99) was prevented from clicking more than one click per second while the control group (N = 85) acted without restrictions. The intervention group achieved a higher learning index than the control group, who acted faster (t (160) = 4.828, p < .001, η2 =.117). Hence, regulating response speed promoted associative learning. We concluded that regulating response speed promoted associative learning, and we hypothesized that training self-regulation of response speed may improve learning and academic performance. Besides, we highlight the utility of employing objective test for analysing self-regulation.