title: The N2pc is increased by perceptual learning but is unnecessary for the transfer of learning.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Practice improves human performance in many psychophysical paradigms. This kind of improvement is thought to be the evidence of human brain plasticity. However, the changes that occur in the brain are not fully understood.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The N2pc component has previously been associated with visuo-spatial attention. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether the N2pc component changed during long-term visual perceptual learning. Thirteen subjects completed several days of training in an orientation discrimination task, and were given a final test 30 days later. The results showed that behavioral thresholds significantly decreased across training sessions, and this decrement was also present in the untrained visual field. ERPs showed training significantly increased the N2pc amplitude, and this effect could be maintained for up to 30 days. However, the increase in N2pc was specific to the trained visual field.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Training caused spatial attention to be increasingly focused on the target positions. However, this process was not transferrable from the trained to the untrained visual field, which suggests that the increase in N2pc may be unnecessary for behavioral improvements in the untrained visual field.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Meirong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yulong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D012535:Scalp / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult