The Nature of Experience Determines Object Representations in the Visual System

Visual perceptual learning (PL) and perceptual expertise (PE) traditionally lead to different training effects and recruit different brain areas, but reasons for these differences are largely unknown. Here, we tested how the learning history influences visual object representations. Two groups were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. General 2012-11, Vol.141 (4), p.682-698
Main Authors: Wong, Yetta K, Folstein, Jonathan R, Gauthier, Isabel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain - physiology
Brain Hemisphere Functions
Experience Level
Expertise
Eyes & eyesight
Female
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Infants
Learning
Learning - physiology
Learning Processes
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - instrumentation
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Novelty (Stimulus Dimension)
Object Recognition
Perception
Perceptual Learning
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sensory perception
Task Analysis
Testing
Time Factors
Training
Vision
Visual Perception
Visual Perception - physiology
Visual Stimuli
Young Adult
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Summary:Visual perceptual learning (PL) and perceptual expertise (PE) traditionally lead to different training effects and recruit different brain areas, but reasons for these differences are largely unknown. Here, we tested how the learning history influences visual object representations. Two groups were trained with tasks typically used in PL or PE studies, with the same novel objects, training duration and parafoveal stimulus presentation. We observed qualitatively different changes in the cortical representations of these objects following PL and PE training, replicating typical training effects in each field. These effects were also modulated by testing tasks, suggesting that experience interacts with attentional set and that the choice of testing tasks critically determines the pattern of training effects one can observe after a short-term visual training. Experience appears sufficient to account for prior differences in the neural locus of learning between PL and PE. The nature of the experience with an object's category can determine its representation in the visual system. (Contains 9 figures, 8 tables and 3 footnotes.)
ISSN:0096-3445
1939-2222
DOI:10.1037/a0027822