Performance can be affected by feedback

Performance can be negatively affected by both positive and negative feedback, new research has found. Published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, the study suggested people may be wasting their breath when offering encouragement or constructive criticism.

Dr Magda Osman of the Queen Mary University of London discovered an individual's decision-making ability is often hampered when others give their opinion on complex tasks.

She stated: "When people received positive or negative feedback, it overloaded them with too much information and distracted them from making a good decision."

It was demonstrated that the role of feedback may be overemphasised - with a person's performance impacted because they are required to make sense of the opinions they receive at the same as carrying out the job at hand.

The study follows a similar report published in the British Psychological Society's Journal of Educational Psychology, which showed feedback given by teachers to primary school children is often more directive than encouraging.