Sensory Modality Influence on Human Reinforcement Learning: Different Response Time but Consistent Performance

Abstract

Previous studies have observed an intriguing overconfidence in the haptic sense. However, the impact of this increased sensory confidence on learning behavior relative to other senses has remained unexplored. This online study sought to investigate human learning behavior across the visual, auditory and haptic sensory modalities in a probabilistic selection task on computers and mobile devices. We examined reaction time, as an indicator for confidence, learning speed, and task accuracy. The haptic based probabilistic selection task showed the fastest reaction time, reinforcing the notion of heightened perceptual confidence in haptics. Conversely, visual stimuli processing exhibited the slowest reaction time and auditory based responses occupied an intermediate position. Despite the differences in reaction time across the senses, all modalities showed a striking consistency in both learning speed and task accuracy. In line with recent theories, the consistent learning outcomes across sensory modalities could be attributed to modality-independent meta-representations, which prioritise relevant information for decision-making. In addition, our data revealed that reaction time on touch-based mobile devices was significantly faster than those on computers. The combination of faster reaction time in the haptic modality without sacrificing accuracy and the enhanced efficiency of touch-based interfaces advocate for the integration of haptics in technological designs to boost efficiency while maintaining a high level of precision.