Long Time No See: Enduring Behavioral and Neuronal Changes in Perceptual Learning of Motion Trajectories 3 Years After Training.
Here, we report on the long-term stability of changes in behavior and brain activity following perceptual learning of conjunctions of simple motion features. Participants were trained for 3 weeks on a visual search task involving the detection of a dot moving in a "v"-shaped target trajectory among inverted "v"-shaped distractor trajectories. The first and last training sessions were carried out during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Learning stability was again examined behaviorally and using fMRI 3 years after the end of training. Results show that acquired behavioral improvements were remarkably stable over time and that these changes were specific to trained target and distractor trajectories. A similar pattern was observed on the neuronal level, when the representation of target and distractor stimuli was examined in early retinotopic visual cortex (V1-V3): training enhanced activity for the target relative to the surrounding distractors in the search array and this enhancement persisted after 3 years. However, exchanging target and distractor trajectories abolished both neuronal and behavioral effects, suggesting that training-induced changes in stimulus representation are specific to trained stimulus identities.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
Sebastian M
SM
Frank
Institute for Experimental Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg 93053, Germany.
Mark W
MW
Greenlee
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
Peter U
PU
Tse
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009038:Motion; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
D010100:Oxygen