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Kondat T, Tik N, Sharon H, Tavor I, Censor N. Distinct Neural Plasticity Enhancing Visual Perception. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e0301242024. [PMID: 39103221 PMCID: PMC11376337 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0301-24.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2024] [Revised: 04/10/2024] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 08/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The developed human brain shows remarkable plasticity following perceptual learning, resulting in improved visual sensitivity. However, such improvements commonly require extensive stimuli exposure. Here we show that efficiently enhancing visual perception with minimal stimuli exposure recruits distinct neural mechanisms relative to standard repetition-based learning. Participants (n = 20, 12 women, 8 men) encoded a visual discrimination task, followed by brief memory reactivations of only five trials each performed on separate days, demonstrating improvements comparable with standard repetition-based learning (n = 20, 12 women, 8 men). Reactivation-induced learning engaged increased bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS) activity relative to repetition-based learning. Complementary evidence for differential learning processes was further provided by temporal-parietal resting functional connectivity changes, which correlated with behavioral improvements. The results suggest that efficiently enhancing visual perception with minimal stimuli exposure recruits distinct neural processes, engaging higher-order control and attentional resources while leading to similar perceptual gains. These unique brain mechanisms underlying improved perceptual learning efficiency may have important implications for daily life and in clinical conditions requiring relearning following brain damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taly Kondat
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Niv Tik
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Haggai Sharon
- Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, Israel
| | - Ido Tavor
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Nitzan Censor
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
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2
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Whitehurst LN, Morehouse A, Mednick SC. Can stimulants make you smarter, despite stealing your sleep? Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:702-713. [PMID: 38763802 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 04/16/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/21/2024]
Abstract
Nonmedical use of psychostimulants for cognitive enhancement is widespread and growing in neurotypical individuals, despite mixed scientific evidence of their effectiveness. Sleep benefits cognition, yet the interaction between stimulants, sleep, and cognition in neurotypical adults has received little attention. We propose that one effect of psychostimulants, namely decreased sleep, may play an important and unconsidered role in the effect of stimulants on cognition. We discuss the role of sleep in cognition, the alerting effects of stimulants in the context of sleep loss, and the conflicting findings of stimulants for complex cognitive processes. Finally, we hypothesize that sleep may be one unconsidered factor in the mythology of stimulants as cognitive enhancers and propose a methodological approach to systematically assess this relation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren N Whitehurst
- Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, 40508.
| | - Allison Morehouse
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA, 92617
| | - Sara C Mednick
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA, 92617.
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3
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Kondat T, Aderka M, Censor N. Modulating temporal dynamics of performance across retinotopic locations enhances the generalization of perceptual learning. iScience 2023; 26:108276. [PMID: 38026175 PMCID: PMC10654611 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Human visual perception can be improved through perceptual learning. However, such learning is often specific to stimulus and learning conditions. Here, we explored how temporal dynamics of performance across conditions impact learning generalization. Participants performed a visual task, with the target at retinotopic location A. Then, the target was presented at location B either immediately after location A (same-session performance) or following a 48h consolidation period (different-session performance). Long-term generalization was measured the following week. Following initial training, both groups demonstrated generalization, consistent with previous accounts of fast learning. However, long-term generalization was enhanced in the same-session performance group. Consistently, improvements at locations A and B were correlated only following same-session performance, implying an integrated learning process across locations. The results support a new account of perceptual learning and generalization dynamics, suggesting that the temporal proximity of learning and consolidation of different conditions may integrate correlated learning processes, facilitating generalized learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taly Kondat
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Maya Aderka
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Nitzan Censor
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
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4
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Hindy NC, Avery EW, Turk-Browne NB. Hippocampal-neocortical interactions sharpen over time for predictive actions. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3989. [PMID: 31488845 PMCID: PMC6728336 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12016-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2018] [Accepted: 08/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
When an action is familiar, we are able to anticipate how it will change the state of the world. These expectations can result from retrieval of action-outcome associations in the hippocampus and the reinstatement of anticipated outcomes in visual cortex. How does this role for the hippocampus in action-based prediction change over time? We use high-resolution fMRI and a dual-training behavioral paradigm to examine how the hippocampus interacts with visual cortex during predictive and nonpredictive actions learned either three days earlier or immediately before the scan. Just-learned associations led to comparable background connectivity between the hippocampus and V1/V2, regardless of whether actions predicted outcomes. However, three-day-old associations led to stronger background connectivity and greater differentiation between neural patterns for predictive vs. nonpredictive actions. Hippocampal prediction may initially reflect indiscriminate binding of co-occurring events, with action information pruning weaker associations and leading to more selective and accurate predictions over time. In familiar environments, humans automatically anticipate the sensory consequences of their motor actions. Here, the authors show how action-based predictions arise from interactions between the hippocampus and visual cortex, and how these interactions strengthen and weaken over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas C Hindy
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA.
| | - Emily W Avery
- Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 08544, USA
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5
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Silverstein SM, Harms MP, Carter CS, Gold JM, Keane BP, MacDonald A, Ragland JD, Barch DM. Cortical contributions to impaired contour integration in schizophrenia. Neuropsychologia 2015; 75:469-80. [PMID: 26160288 PMCID: PMC4546547 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2015] [Revised: 07/01/2015] [Accepted: 07/03/2015] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Visual perceptual organization impairments in schizophrenia (SCZ) are well established, but their neurobiological bases are not. The current study used the previously validated Jittered Orientation Visual Integration (JOVI) task, along with fMRI, to examine the neural basis of contour integration (CI), and its impairment in SCZ. CI is an aspect of perceptual organization in which multiple distinct oriented elements are grouped into a single continuous boundary or shape. METHODS On the JOVI, five levels of orientational jitter were added to non-contiguous closed contour elements embedded in background noise to progressively increase the difficulty in perceiving contour elements as left- or right-pointing ovals. Multi-site fMRI data were analyzed for 56 healthy control subjects and 47 people with SCZ. RESULTS SCZ patients demonstrated poorer CI, and this was associated with increased activation in regions involved in global shape processing and visual attention, namely the lateral occipital complex and superior parietal lobules. There were no brain regions where controls demonstrated more activation than patients. CONCLUSIONS CI impairment in this sample of outpatients with SCZ was related to excessive activation in regions associated with object processing and allocation of visual-spatial attention. There was no evidence for basic impairments in contour element linking in the fMRI data. The latter may be limited to poor outcome patients, where more extensive structural and functional changes in the occipital lobe have been observed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - James M Gold
- University of Maryland, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, United States
| | - Brian P Keane
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, United States
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Persike M, Meinhardt G. Effects of Spatial Frequency Similarity and Dissimilarity on Contour Integration. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0126449. [PMID: 26057620 PMCID: PMC4461267 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2014] [Accepted: 03/31/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined the effects of spatial frequency similarity and dissimilarity on human contour integration under various conditions of uncertainty. Participants performed a temporal 2AFC contour detection task. Spatial frequency jitter up to 3.0 octaves was applied either to background elements, or to contour and background elements, or to none of both. Results converge on four major findings. (1) Contours defined by spatial frequency similarity alone are only scarcely visible, suggesting the absence of specialized cortical routines for shape detection based on spatial frequency similarity. (2) When orientation collinearity and spatial frequency similarity are combined along a contour, performance amplifies far beyond probability summation when compared to the fully heterogenous condition but only to a margin compatible with probability summation when compared to the fully homogenous case. (3) Psychometric functions are steeper but not shifted for homogenous contours in heterogenous backgrounds indicating an advantageous signal-to-noise ratio. The additional similarity cue therefore not so much improves contour detection performance but primarily reduces observer uncertainty about whether a potential candidate is a contour or just a false positive. (4) Contour integration is a broadband mechanism which is only moderately impaired by spatial frequency dissimilarity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malte Persike
- Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
- * E-mail:
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Aton SJ. Set and setting: how behavioral state regulates sensory function and plasticity. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2013; 106:1-10. [PMID: 23792020 PMCID: PMC4021401 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2013.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2013] [Revised: 05/31/2013] [Accepted: 06/10/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Recently developed neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques are allowing us to answer fundamental questions about how behavioral states regulate our perception of the external environment. Studies using these techniques have yielded surprising insights into how sensory processing is affected at the earliest stages by attention and motivation, and how new sensory information received during wakefulness (e.g., during learning) continues to affect sensory brain circuits (leading to plastic changes) during subsequent sleep. This review aims to describe how brain states affect sensory response properties among neurons in primary and secondary sensory cortices, and how this relates to psychophysical detection thresholds and performance on sensory discrimination tasks. This is not intended to serve as a comprehensive overview of all brain states, or all sensory systems, but instead as an illustrative description of how three specific state variables (attention, motivation, and vigilance [i.e., sleep vs. wakefulness]) affect sensory systems in which they have been best studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara J Aton
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, USA.
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Gervan P, Gombos F, Kovacs I. Perceptual learning in Williams syndrome: looking beyond averages. PLoS One 2012; 7:e40282. [PMID: 22792262 PMCID: PMC3390366 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0040282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2012] [Accepted: 06/04/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Williams Syndrome is a genetically determined neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an uneven cognitive profile and surprisingly large neurobehavioral differences among individuals. Previous studies have already shown different forms of memory deficiencies and learning difficulties in WS. Here we studied the capacity of WS subjects to improve their performance in a basic visual task. We employed a contour integration paradigm that addresses occipital visual function, and analyzed the initial (i.e. baseline) and after-learning performance of WS individuals. Instead of pooling the very inhomogeneous results of WS subjects together, we evaluated individual performance by expressing it in terms of the deviation from the average performance of the group of typically developing subjects of similar age. This approach helped us to reveal information about the possible origins of poor performance of WS subjects in contour integration. Although the majority of WS individuals showed both reduced baseline and reduced learning performance, individual analysis also revealed a dissociation between baseline and learning capacity in several WS subjects. In spite of impaired initial contour integration performance, some WS individuals presented learning capacity comparable to learning in the typically developing population, and vice versa, poor learning was also observed in subjects with high initial performance levels. These data indicate a dissociation between factors determining initial performance and perceptual learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Gervan
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.
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Posttraining transcranial magnetic stimulation of striate cortex disrupts consolidation early in visual skill learning. J Neurosci 2012; 32:1981-8. [PMID: 22323712 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3712-11.2011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Practice-induced improvements in skilled performance reflect "offline " consolidation processes extending beyond daily training sessions. According to visual learning theories, an early, fast learning phase driven by high-level areas is followed by a late, asymptotic learning phase driven by low-level, retinotopic areas when higher resolution is required. Thus, low-level areas would not contribute to learning and offline consolidation until late learning. Recent studies have challenged this notion, demonstrating modified responses to trained stimuli in primary visual cortex (V1) and offline activity after very limited training. However, the behavioral relevance of modified V1 activity for offline consolidation of visual skill memory in V1 after early training sessions remains unclear. Here, we used neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) directed to a trained retinotopic V1 location to test for behaviorally relevant consolidation in human low-level visual cortex. Applying TMS to the trained V1 location within 45 min of the first or second training session strongly interfered with learning, as measured by impaired performance the next day. The interference was conditional on task context and occurred only when training in the location targeted by TMS was followed by training in a second location before TMS. In this condition, high-level areas may become coupled to the second location and uncoupled from the previously trained low-level representation, thereby rendering consolidation vulnerable to interference. Our data show that, during the earliest phases of skill learning in the lowest-level visual areas, a behaviorally relevant form of consolidation exists of which the robustness is controlled by high-level, contextual factors.
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10
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Bitan T, Booth JR. Offline improvement in learning to read a novel orthography depends on direct letter instruction. Cogn Sci 2012; 36:896-918. [PMID: 22417104 DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2012.01234.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Improvement in performance after the end of the training session, termed "Offline improvement," has been shown in procedural learning tasks. We examined whether Offline improvement in learning a novel orthography depends on the type of reading instruction. Forty-eight adults received multisession training in reading nonsense words, written in an artificial script. Participants were trained in one of three conditions: alphabetical words preceded by direct letter instruction (Letter-Alph); alphabetical words with whole-word instruction (Word-Alph); and nonalphabetical (arbitrary) words with whole-word instruction (Word-Arb). Offline improvement was found only for the Letter-Alph group. Moreover, correlation with a standardized measure of word reading ability showed that good readers trained in the Letter-Alph group exhibit greater Offline improvement, whereas good readers trained in the Word-Arb group showed greater Within-session improvement during training. These results suggest that different consolidation processes and learning mechanisms were involved in each group. We argue that providing a short block of direct letter instruction prior to training resulted in increased involvement of procedural learning mechanisms during training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tali Bitan
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel.
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11
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Abstract
Perceptual skills improve with daily practice (Fahle and Poggio, 2002; Fine and Jacobs, 2002). Practice induces plasticity in task-relevant brain regions during an "offline" consolidation period thought to last several hours, during which initially fragile memory traces become stable (Karni, 1996; Dudai, 2004). Impaired retention of a task if followed by training in another task is considered evidence for the instability of memory traces during consolidation (Dudai, 2004). However, it remains unknown when after training memory traces become stable and resistant against interference, where in the brain the neuronal mechanisms responsible for interference are localized, and how these mechanisms produce interference. Here, we show in human participants strong interference between two visual skill-learning tasks for surprisingly long time intervals between training periods (up to 24 h). Interference occurred during asymptotic learning, but only when stimuli were similar between tasks. This supports a strong contribution to interference of low-level visual cortical areas (Karni and Bertini, 1997; Ahissar and Hochstein, 2004), where similar stimuli recruit overlapping neuronal populations. Our finding of stimulus-dependent and time-independent interference reveals a fundamental limit in cortical plasticity that constrains the simultaneous representation of multiple skills in a single neuronal population, rather than a time-limited consolidation process.
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Szwed M, Ventura P, Querido L, Cohen L, Dehaene S. Reading acquisition enhances an early visual process of contour integration. Dev Sci 2011; 15:139-49. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01102.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Gervan P, Berencsi A, Kovacs I. Vision first? The development of primary visual cortical networks is more rapid than the development of primary motor networks in humans. PLoS One 2011; 6:e25572. [PMID: 21984933 PMCID: PMC3184155 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2011] [Accepted: 09/07/2011] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of cortical functions and the capacity of the mature brain to learn are largely determined by the establishment and maintenance of neocortical networks. Here we address the human development of long-range connectivity in primary visual and motor cortices, using well-established behavioral measures - a Contour Integration test and a Finger-tapping task - that have been shown to be related to these specific primary areas, and the long-range neural connectivity within those. Possible confounding factors, such as different task requirements (complexity, cognitive load) are eliminated by using these tasks in a learning paradigm. We find that there is a temporal lag between the developmental timing of primary sensory vs. motor areas with an advantage of visual development; we also confirm that human development is very slow in both cases, and that there is a retained capacity for practice induced plastic changes in adults. This pattern of results seems to point to human-specific development of the “canonical circuits” of primary sensory and motor cortices, probably reflecting the ecological requirements of human life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Gervan
- Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
- Hungarian National Academy - Budapest University of Technology and Economics Cognitive Science Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Andrea Berencsi
- Hungarian National Academy - Budapest University of Technology and Economics Cognitive Science Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Ilona Kovacs
- Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
- Hungarian National Academy - Budapest University of Technology and Economics Cognitive Science Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
- * E-mail:
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14
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Perceptual learning in Vision Research. Vision Res 2010; 51:1552-66. [PMID: 20974167 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2010.10.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 295] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2010] [Revised: 10/15/2010] [Accepted: 10/15/2010] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Reports published in Vision Research during the late years of the 20th century described surprising effects of long-term sensitivity improvement with some basic visual tasks as a result of training. These improvements, found in adult human observers, were highly specific to simple visual features, such as location in the visual field, spatial-frequency, local and global orientation, and in some cases even the eye of origin. The results were interpreted as arising from the plasticity of sensory brain regions that display those features of specificity within their constituting neuronal subpopulations. A new view of the visual cortex has emerged, according to which a degree of plasticity is retained at adult age, allowing flexibility in acquiring new visual skills when the need arises. Although this "sensory plasticity" interpretation is often questioned, it is commonly believed that learning has access to detailed low-level visual representations residing within the visual cortex. More recent studies during the last decade revealed the conditions needed for learning and the conditions under which learning can be generalized across stimuli and tasks. The results are consistent with an account of perceptual learning according to which visual processing is remodeled by the brain, utilizing sensory information acquired during task performance. The stability of the visual system is viewed as an adaptation to a stable environment and instances of perceptual learning as a reaction of the brain to abrupt changes in the environment. Training on a restricted stimulus set may lead to perceptual overfitting and over-specificity. The systemic methodology developed for perceptual learning, and the accumulated knowledge, allows us to explore issues related to learning and memory in general, such as learning rules, reinforcement, memory consolidation, and neural rehabilitation. A persistent open question is the neuro-anatomical substrate underlying these learning effects.
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15
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Silverstein SM, Keane BP. Perceptual organization in schizophrenia: Plasticity and state-related change. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009. [DOI: 10.1556/lp.1.2009.2.111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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