Feedback-associated experience and motivated memory

Last registered on April 11, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Feedback-associated experience and motivated memory
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011583
Initial registration date
June 15, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 23, 2023, 4:42 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
April 11, 2024, 8:54 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Zhuokun Liu
Affiliation
Goethe University Frankfurt
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-06-19
End date
2023-11-22
Keywords
Behavior, Other
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of feedback-associated experience on motivated memory in the context of an IQ test. Previous research has shown that individuals tend to remember favorable feedback better and unfavorable feedback worse, which may give rise to self-serving biases. However, little is known about how personal experiences with feedback affect false memory formation. In my experiment, I compare the incidence of memory errors between two treatments: one with feedback-associated experience and one without. The study aims to identify the pure effect of feedback-associated experience on motivated false memory and explore individual heterogeneity in the impact of feedback-associated experience. The findings contribute to the understanding of the motivational value of feedback-associated experience and its influence on strategic memory management.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Liu, Zhuokun. 2024. "Feedback-associated experience and motivated memory." AEA RCT Registry. April 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11583-2.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Laboratory experiments to study the effect of the feedback-associated experience on motivated memory.
Intervention Start Date
2023-06-19
Intervention End Date
2023-11-22

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
• Recall Accuracy: the number of correct recalls in the second stage.
• Positive Memory Errors: the number of incorrect recalls in the second stage, where
they choose (a), (c), and (d) with respect to a question answered incorrectly before,
and they choose (a) with respect to a question that actually did not appear before.
• Negative Memory Errors: the number of incorrect recalls in the second stage, where
they choose (b), (c), and (d) with respect to questions answered correctly before, and
they choose (b) with respect to a question that actually did not appear before.
• Memory Errors: Positive Memory Errors + Negative Memory Errors
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The description of the design is under the "Experimental Design (Hidden)" field.
Experimental Design Details
Stage 1:
• A participant first completes a series of decision-making tasks to elicit her time discount
rate, risk and ambiguity attitudes, and anticipatory feelings.
• The participant is then asked to solve 30 Raven’s Progressive Matrices.
• After solving 30 questions, the participant receives her score and vague feedback on
her relative performance.
• Questionnaire (including survey measures of emotional state, time, risk, ambiguity
preferences, and anticipatory feelings).

Stage 2 (Two weeks after Stage 1):
• A participant is presented in sequence with 5 Raven’s matrices and solutions, out of
which 3 questions are from the first stage and 2 questions are new.
• The participant is then asked to recall whether she answered the question (a) correctly
or (b) incorrectly, (c) did not see this question before, or simply (d) did not remember.
Randomization Method
Randomization by computer
Randomization Unit
session
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
10 sessions
Sample size: planned number of observations
200 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The sample size will be given by (with a planned total sample size of 200):
Treatments Applause: 100
Treatment NoApplause: 100
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Gemeinsame Ethikkommission Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt und der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
IRB Approval Date
2023-05-15
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
November 22, 2023, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
November 22, 2023, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
18 sessions
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
150 subjects
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
76 in the NoApplause treatment, 74 in the Applause treatment
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials