High reward enhances perceptual learning

Zhang, Pan; Hou, Fang; Feng, Yan; Xiao, Jie; Lin, Bo-Wen; Zhao, Jin; Yang, Jia; Chen, Ge; Zhang, Mengyuan; He, Qichun; Dosher, Barbara Anne; Lü, Zhong-Lin; Huang, Chang-Bing

doi:10.1167/18.8.11

Cited by 36 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(138 reference statements)

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“…In essence, our results suggest that reward modulates action-specific motor resonance through the amplification of taskrelevant information (Figure 5). This is consistent with recent insights into the mechanisms of reward-based modulation which support an improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio of task-relevant characteristics (e.g., Engelmann and Pessoa, 2007;Etzel et al, 2008;Baldassi and Simoncini, 2011;Chelazzi et al, 2013;Grueschow et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2018). Etzel and colleagues (2016) used pattern classification methods and showed that task rules were decoded more effectively on reward trials.…”

Section: Reward Sharpens the Neural Tuning Of Action Representations supporting

confidence: 84%

Reward modulates behaviour and neural responses in motor cortex during action observation

Cretu

Lehner

Polanía

et al. 2019

Preprint

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1Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies demonstrated that observing the actions of other 2 individuals leads to action-specific facilitation of primary motor cortex (M1) (i.e., "motor resonance"). 3Motor resonance is modulated by contextual information accompanying others' actions, however, it is 4 currently unknown whether action value influences behavioural and physiological outcomes during 5 action observation in humans. Here we tested whether response times (RT) and muscle-specific changes 6 of M1 excitability are modulated by the value an observer assigns to the action executed by another 7 agent and whether this effect can be distinguished from attentional engagement. We show that observing 8 highly-valued actions leads to a significant decrease in RT variability and a significant strengthening of 9 action-specific neural representations in M1. This "sharpening" of behavioural and neural responses was 10 observed over and beyond a control task requiring similar attentional engagement but did not include 11 any rewards. Our finding that reward influences action specific representations in human M1 even if no 12 motor response is required is new, suggesting that reward influences the transformation of action stimuli 13 from the perceptual to the motor domain. We suggest that premotor areas are important for mediating 14 the observed effect, most likely by optimizing grasp-specific PMv-M1 interactions which cause 15 muscular facilitation patterns in M1 to be more distinct for rewarded actions. 16

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Section: Reward Sharpens the Neural Tuning Of Action Representations supporting

confidence: 84%

Reward modulates behaviour and neural responses in motor cortex during action observation

Cretu

Lehner

Polanía

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…During the last few decades, perceptual learning has been found to improve visual performance from simple visual feature discrimination to complex object recognition, such as contrast (Yu et al, 2004;Moret et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2018), stimulus orientation (Wang et al, 2010;Jehee et al, 2012), motion (Ball and Sekuler, 1987;Larcombe et al, 2018), stereoacuity (Ding and Levi, 2011;Xi et al, 2014), vernier acuity (Fahle and Edelman, 1993;Hung and Seitz, 2014), shape (Gilbert and Sigman, 2000;Gilbert et al, 2009), and facial recognition (Gold et al, 1999). Previous studies have shown that the improvement in learning is highly specific to the characteristics of the trained task or stimulus (Fahle and Morgan, 1996;Li et al, 2004;Huang et al, 2007) or even to the trained eye or retinal location (Karni and Sagi, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual Learning at Higher Trained Cutoff Spatial Frequencies Induces Larger Visual Improvements

Zhang

Li³

et al. 2020

Front. Psychol.

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It is well known that extensive practice of a perceptual task can improve visual performance, termed perceptual learning. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the dependency of visual improvements on the features of training stimuli (i.e., spatial frequency). Twenty-eight observers were divided into training and control groups. Visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity function (CSF) were measured and compared before and after training. All observers in the training group were trained in a monocular grating detection task near their individual cutoff spatial frequencies. The results showed that perceptual learning induced significant visual improvement, which was dependent on the cutoff spatial frequency, with a greater improvement magnitude and transfer of perceptual learning observed for those trained with higher spatial frequencies. However, VA significantly improved following training but was not related to the cutoff spatial frequency. The results may broaden the understanding of the nature of the learning rule and the neural plasticity of different cortical areas.

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“…In this study, we used external noise titration method to quantify the psychophysical mechanism(s) underlying age-related declines in contrast sensitivity. This method and its associated noise settings have been widely used in earlier studies [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] . Allard and his colleagues proposed that the property (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Observer model that incorporates nonlinear transducer function and internal multiplicative noise, i.e. perceptual template model (PTM), has been found to provide better account for visual deficits in amblyopia 27 and dyslexia 28 , system changes after perceptual learning [29][30][31] and playing video game 32 , and attention modulation 33,34 . In the current study, we attempted to re-examine the intrinsic psychophysical mechanisms underlying age-related change(s) of contrast sensitivity at a variety of spatial frequencies in a relatively large cohort of young and aging populations.…”

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confidence: 99%

Aging affects gain and internal noise in the visual system

Feng

Hou

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Visual functions decline with age, but how aging degrades visual functions remains controversial. In the current study, the mechanisms underlying age-related visual declines were examined psychophysically. We developed an efficient method to quickly explore contrast sensitivity as a function of nine spatial frequencies at three levels of external noise in both young and old subjects. Fifty-two young and twenty-six old subjects have been screened for ophthalmological and mental diseases and participated in the experiment. Contrast sensitivity varied significantly with spatial frequency, age, and level of external noise. By adopting a nonlinear observer model, we decomposed contrast sensitivity into inefficiencies in internal additive noise, internal multiplicative noise, perceptual template gain, and/ or system non-linearity. Model analysis revealed that aging impacts both internal additive noise and perceptual template gain, and such age-related degradation is tuned to spatial frequency, which is also a good predictor to discriminate old from young. The quick characterization of contrast sensitivity functions at different noise levels and the accompanying analysis developed in the current study may have profound application in other clinical populations. Aging is an unavoidable process in human life and affects almost all sensory and cognitive functions. As far as vision is concerned, aging impacts visual acuity 1 , contrast sensitivity 2-4 , motion 5,6 , contour perception 7,8 , and the useful field of view 9,10 , and so on. In the current study, we focused on how aging affects contrast sensitivity, one of the most fundamental visual functions 11. Contrast sensitivity, depicting creatures' ability to detect luminance difference, is critical for daily vision. Nameda, et al. 12 found that contrast sensitivity at high spatial frequencies started to decrease from 40 years old and decreased at all frequencies from 50-60 years old. Owsley, et al. 13 showed that contrast sensitivity began to fall at medium and high spatial frequencies after the age of 40 to 50 years. In a later study, Sloane, et al. 14 reported that contrast sensitivity decreased at all spatial frequencies and the decline was particularly prominent at high spatial frequencies. Although there were some discrepancies in the observed contrast sensitivity deficits in old observers, the declining pattern was largely consistent among published studies, i.e. contrast sensitivity began to decrease from high spatial frequencies and then extended to all frequencies after about 60 years old. On the other hand, how aging affects contrast sensitivity remains controversial. Based on the noise titration method and linear amplification model (LAM) 15,16 , previous psychophysical studies attributed the decline of contrast sensitivity in the elderly to sampling inefficiency and/or internal noise elevation. Pardhan, et al. 17 reported that the loss of contrast sensitivity to grating of 6 cycles per degree (c/d) in aged observers resulted from lowered calculation efficien...

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High reward enhances perceptual learning

Cited by 36 publications

References 88 publications

Reward modulates behaviour and neural responses in motor cortex during action observation

Reward modulates behaviour and neural responses in motor cortex during action observation

Perceptual Learning at Higher Trained Cutoff Spatial Frequencies Induces Larger Visual Improvements

Aging affects gain and internal noise in the visual system

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