Visual perceptual learning by operant conditioning training follows rules of contingency

Kim, Dongho; Seitz, Aaron R.; Watanabe, Takeo

doi:10.1080/13506285.2015.1015663

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…This would be the case for color adaptation (Bompas & O'Regan, 2006), perception in binocular rivalry (Marx & Einhäuser, 2015), or the disambiguation of bistable stimuli (Haijiang, Saunders, Stone, & Backus, 2006). Visual learning-that is, sensitivity changes for critical features of stimuli-may also arise through an automatic process similar to conditioning (Kim, Seitz, & Watanabe, 2015;. Interestingly, Seitz and colleagues showed that visual learning can also occur from unattended, task-irrelevant stimuli if these stimuli are temporally correlated with task-relevant ones (Seitz, Kim, & Watanabe, 2009;Seitz & Watanabe, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration of peripheral perception of shape with and without saccadic eye movements

Collins

Cavanagh

Herwig

2018

Atten Percept Psychophys

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The cortical representations of a visual object differ radically across saccades. Several studies claim that the visual system adapts the peripheral percept to better match the subsequent foveal view. Recently, Herwig, Weiß, and Schneider (2015, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1339(1), 97-105) found that the perception of shape demonstrates a saccade-dependent learning effect. Here, we ask whether this learning actually requires saccades. We replicated Herwig et al.'s (2015) study and introduced a fixation condition. In a learning phase, participants were exposed to objects whose shape systematically changed during a saccade, or during a displacement from peripheral to foveal vision (without a saccade). In a subsequent test, objects were perceived as less (more) curved if they previously changed from more circular (triangular) in the periphery to more triangular (circular) in the fovea. Importantly, this pattern was seen both with and without saccades. We then tested whether a variable delay between the presentations of the peripheral and foveal objects would affect their association-hypothetically weakening it at longer delays. Again, we found that shape judgments depended on the changes experienced during the learning phase and that they were similar in both the saccade and fixation conditions. Surprisingly, they were not affected by the delay between the peripheral and foveal presentations over the range we tested. These results suggest that a general associative process, independent of saccade execution, contributes to the perception of shape across viewpoints.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration of peripheral perception of shape with and without saccadic eye movements

Collins

Cavanagh

Herwig

2018

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…Importantly, because we were simply interested in manipulating arousal state, the likelihood of water delivery was not contingent on a participant's response. This differs from traditional reward paradigms, allowing for purer arousal manipulation (Kim, Seitz, & Watanabe, 2015;O'Doherty, Deichmann, Critchley, & Dolan, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated arousal levels enhance contrast perception

2017

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Our state of arousal fluctuates from moment to moment-fluctuations that can have profound impacts on behavior. Arousal has been proposed to play a powerful, widespread role in the brain, influencing processes as far ranging as perception, memory, learning, and decision making. Although arousal clearly plays a critical role in modulating behavior, the mechanisms underlying this modulation remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we examined the modulatory role of arousal on one of the cornerstones of visual perception: contrast perception. Using a reward-driven paradigm to manipulate arousal state, we discovered that elevated arousal state substantially enhances visual sensitivity, incurring a multiplicative modulation of contrast response. Contrast defines vision, determining whether objects appear visible or invisible to us, and these results indicate that one of the consequences of decreased arousal state is an impaired ability to visually process our environment.

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“…Current models of PL suggest that top-down inputs act to restrict task-dependent plasticity to the appropriate neurons (79)(80)(81)(82)(83) or enhance stimulus signals above some threshold beyond which plasticity mechanisms are operational (58,59). Our hypothesis is consistent with these models but posits that, rather than providing a static modulatory signal, top-down networks change throughout training, thereby contributing to improved ACx sensitivity and PL.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Top-down modulation of sensory cortex gates perceptual learning

Caras

Sanes

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

108

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Practice sharpens our perceptual judgments, a process known as perceptual learning. Although several brain regions and neural mechanisms have been proposed to support perceptual learning, formal tests of causality are lacking. Furthermore, the temporal relationship between neural and behavioral plasticity remains uncertain. To address these issues, we recorded the activity of auditory cortical neurons as gerbils trained on a sound detection task. Training led to improvements in cortical and behavioral sensitivity that were closely matched in terms of magnitude and time course. Surprisingly, the degree of neural improvement was behaviorally gated. During task performance, cortical improvements were large and predicted behavioral outcomes. In contrast, during nontask listening sessions, cortical improvements were weak and uncorrelated with perceptual performance. Targeted reduction of auditory cortical activity during training diminished perceptual learning while leaving psychometric performance largely unaffected. Collectively, our findings suggest that training facilitates perceptual learning by strengthening both bottom-up sensory encoding and top-down modulation of auditory cortex.broad range of sensory skills improve with practice during perceptual learning (PL), including language acquisition (1-3), musical abilities (4), and recognition of emotions (5). The neural bases for such perceptual improvement may vary widely. For example, training-based changes in neural activity have been identified in a number of brain regions, including early (6-13) and late (14, 15) sensory cortices, multisensory regions (16, 17), and downstream decision-making areas (18). Similarly, several neural mechanisms have been proposed, such as enhanced signal representation (19), reduction of external (20, 21) or internal (22, 23) noise, and improvement in sensory readout or decision making (13,18,24,25).The apparent divergence of loci and mechanisms associated with PL could be due, in part, to limitations of experimental design. For example, some neural changes associated with PL are transient (26-29), making it necessary to monitor neural activity throughout the duration of perceptual training, rather than making comparisons only after PL is complete (6-12, 14-16, 30). For similar reasons, it is critical to block the function of a specific candidate brain region during training to determine whether it plays a causal role in PL. Although some reports show that manipulating brain activity can influence PL (28,(31)(32)(33)(34), there are no loss-of-function experiments to determine whether a particular region is required for behavioral improvement.To address these unresolved issues, we recorded from auditory cortex (ACx) as animals improved on an auditory detection task and, in separate experiments, blocked ACx activity during the period of perceptual training. We found that neural and behavioral sensitivity improved in a nearly identical manner over the course of training, in terms of both absolute magnitude and kinetics. Furthermore,...

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Visual perceptual learning by operant conditioning training follows rules of contingency

Cited by 16 publications

References 41 publications

Calibration of peripheral perception of shape with and without saccadic eye movements

Calibration of peripheral perception of shape with and without saccadic eye movements

Elevated arousal levels enhance contrast perception

Top-down modulation of sensory cortex gates perceptual learning

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