title: Learning to filter out visual distractors.
abstract: When learning to master a visual task in a cluttered natural environment, it is important to optimize the processing of task-relevant information and to efficiently filter out distractors. However, the mechanisms that suppress task-irrelevant information are not well understood. Here we show that training leads to a selective increase in motion coherence detection thresholds for task-irrelevant motion directions that interfered with the processing of task-relevant directions during training. Furthermore, using functional magnetic resonance imaging we found that training attenuated neural responses associated with the task-irrelevant direction compared with the task-relevant direction in the visual cortical areas involved in processing of visual motion. The strongest suppression of functional magnetic resonance imaging responses to task-irrelevant motion information was observed in human area MT+. These findings reveal that perceptual learning leads to the suppression and efficient filtering of task-irrelevant visual information.
authors.affiliation: MR Research Center, Szentágothai J. Knowledge Center, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gál
authors.forename: Lajos R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Kozák
authors.forename: István
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kóbor
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Bankó
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Serences
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vidnyánszky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011601:Psychophysics; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult