Involvement of the parietal cortex in perceptual learning (Eureka effect): An interference approach using rTMS

Giovannelli, Fabio; Silingardi, Davide; Borgheresi, Alessandra; Feurra, Matteo; Amati, G.; Pizzorusso, Tommaso; Viggiano, Maria Pia; Zaccara, Gaetano; Berardi, Nicoletta; Cincotta, Massimo

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.02.031

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Once the pattern is observed and the rule learned, it can be applied to other aspects of behavior. This rule realization has been referred to as the ‘eureka’ effect (Giovannelli et al 2010). It could be hypothesized that these studies provide some support that removal of the α 7‐nAChR delays this ‘eureka effect' in mice, while leaving rule application, reversal learning and other aspects of behavior intact.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delayed procedural learning in α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor knockout mice

Young

Meves

Tarantino

et al. 2011

Genes, Brain and Behavior

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The α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) has long been a procognitive therapeutic target to treat schizophrenia. Evidence on the role of this receptor in cognition has been lacking, however, in part due to the limited availability of suitable ligands. The behavior of α7-nAChR knockout (KO) mice has been examined previously, but cognitive assessments using tests with cross-species translatability have been limited to date. Here, we assessed the cognitive performance of α7-nAChR KO and wild-type (WT) littermate mice in the attentional set-shifting task of executive functioning, the radial arm maze test of spatial working memory span capacity and the novel object recognition test of short-term memory. The reward motivation of these mutants was assessed using the progressive ratio breakpoint test. In addition, we assessed the exploratory behavior and sensorimotor gating using the behavioral pattern monitor and prepulse inhibition, respectively. α7-nAChR KO mice exhibited normal set-shifting, but impaired procedural learning (rule acquisition) in multiple paradigms. Spatial span capacity, short-term memory, motivation for food, exploration and sensorimotor gating were all comparable to WT littermates. The data presented here support the notion that this receptor is important for such procedural learning, when patterns in the environment become clear and a rule is learned. In combination with the impaired attention observed previously in these mice, this finding suggests that agonist treatments should be examined in clinical studies of attention and procedural learning, perhaps in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delayed procedural learning in α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor knockout mice

Young

Meves

Tarantino

et al. 2011

Genes, Brain and Behavior

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“…But once they realize what is in the figure, a rapid perceptual learning occurs and is completed in a very short time. The dramatic transition from an unconscious impasse to a conscious epiphany is thought to be a special type of learning called visual oneshot learning (Mogi et al 2005;Tamori 2006, 2007;Giovannelli et al 2010), or ''Aha!'' experience (Gick and Lockhart 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Activities in the early retinotopic cortex and foveal confluence are modulated by top-down interpretation as well as the ventral visual stream and the lateral occipital complex (Hsieh et al 2010). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulations (rTMS) over the parietal cortex during presentation of the undegraded images disrupt the identification of the degraded counterparts 30 min later (Giovannelli et al 2010). The activation of left amygdala predicts memory performance 1 week later in a similar paradigm (Ludmer et al 2011), suggesting the importance of emotional aspects of one-shot learning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Note that the stimuli used in almost all of the preceding imaging studies were too difficult for subjects to recognize by themselves. An often used practice, instead of waiting for realization on their own, is to present pairs of the problem (the degraded two-tone picture) and the solution (the original grayscale or color picture) alternately to provide an answer directly and immediately (''alternate presentation paradigm '', Dolan et al 1997;Hsieh et al 2010;Giovannelli et al 2010;Ludmer et al 2011). However, learning processes with cognitive effort to try to solve a problem without seeing the hint or answer are impaired in the alternate presentation paradigm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Visual one-shot learning as an ‘anti-camouflage device’: a novel morphing paradigm

Ishikawa

Masamune

2011

Cogn Neurodyn

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Once people perceive what is in the hidden figure such as Dallenbach's cow and Dalmatian, they seldom seem to come back to the previous state when they were ignorant of the answer. This special type of learning process can be accomplished in a short time, with the effect of learning lasting for a long time (visual one-shot learning). Although it is an intriguing cognitive phenomenon, the lack of the control of difficulty of stimuli presented has been a problem in research. Here we propose a novel paradigm to create new hidden figures systematically by using a morphing technique. Through gradual changes from a blurred and binarized two-tone image to a blurred grayscale image of the original photograph including objects in a natural scene, spontaneous one-shot learning can occur at a certain stage of morphing when a sufficient amount of information is restored to the degraded image. A negative correlation between confidence levels and reaction times is observed, giving support to the fluency theory of one-shot learning. The correlation between confidence ratings and correct recognition rates indicates that participants had an accurate introspective ability (metacognition).The learning effect could be tested later by verifying whether or not the target object was recognized quicker in the second exposure. The present method opens a way for a systematic production of ''good'' hidden figures, which can be used to demystify the nature of visual one-shot learning.

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“…Several studies showed that perceptual learning weakens the interference effects of TMS (Corthout et al 2000;Neary, Anand, and Hotson 2005). Other research demonstrated that TMS delivered during the learning phase of a task leads to interference with long-term memory formation (Giovannelli et al 2010;Brascamp et al 2010). Finally, more recent studies used TMS to examine the role of different cortical areas in performing the task after extensive visual 13 training and showed changes in the specialization of cortical areas (Baldassarre et al 2016;Chen et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causal evidence for LTP-based interference in visual learning

Bang

Milton

Sasaki

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Training related skills in close succession results in interference but the reasons for this interference are not understood. Here we test the hypothesis that interference occurs due to competition of long-term potentiation (LTP): the LTP induced by one task impedes the LTP induced by the other. Human subjects performed two consecutive training sessions on different Gabor orientations. Immediately after the offset of the first training, we applied continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to interfere with the LTP processes produced by the first training.We found that cTBS to a control site (vertex) resulted in substantial anterograde interference for the second training. Critically, cTBS to the visual cortex not only disrupted learning on the immediately preceding training, but also released the second training from the anterograde interference. These results provide strong support for the LTP-based theory of interference and suggest the possibility of directly manipulating the competition between different learning periods.

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Involvement of the parietal cortex in perceptual learning (Eureka effect): An interference approach using rTMS

Cited by 21 publications

References 21 publications

Delayed procedural learning in α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor knockout mice

Delayed procedural learning in α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor knockout mice

Visual one-shot learning as an ‘anti-camouflage device’: a novel morphing paradigm

Causal evidence for LTP-based interference in visual learning

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