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PLoS Computational Biology Dec 2017Training can modify the visual system to produce a substantial improvement on perceptual tasks and therefore has applications for treating visual deficits. Visual...
Training can modify the visual system to produce a substantial improvement on perceptual tasks and therefore has applications for treating visual deficits. Visual perceptual learning (VPL) is often specific to the trained feature, which gives insight into processes underlying brain plasticity, but limits VPL's effectiveness in rehabilitation. Under what circumstances VPL transfers to untrained stimuli is poorly understood. Here we report a qualitatively new phenomenon: intrinsic variation in the representation of features determines the transfer of VPL. Orientations around cardinal are represented more reliably than orientations around oblique in V1, which has been linked to behavioral consequences such as visual search asymmetries. We studied VPL for visual search of near-cardinal or oblique targets among distractors of the other orientation while controlling for other display and task attributes, including task precision, task difficulty, and stimulus exposure. Learning was the same in all training conditions; however, transfer depended on the orientation of the target, with full transfer of learning from near-cardinal to oblique targets but not the reverse. To evaluate the idea that representational reliability was the key difference between the orientations in determining VPL transfer, we created a model that combined orientation-dependent reliability, improvement of reliability with learning, and an optimal search strategy. Modeling suggested that not only search asymmetries but also the asymmetric transfer of VPL depended on preexisting differences between the reliability of near-cardinal and oblique representations. Transfer asymmetries in model behavior also depended on having different learning rates for targets and distractors, such that greater learning for low-reliability distractors facilitated transfer. These findings suggest that training on sensory features with intrinsically low reliability may maximize the generalizability of learning in complex visual environments.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Computational Biology; Female; Humans; Learning; Male; Models, Neurological; Models, Psychological; Neuronal Plasticity; Orientation; Photic Stimulation; Reproducibility of Results; Spatial Learning; Task Performance and Analysis; Transfer, Psychology; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 29240813
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005882 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Mar 2010As long as we only focus on kinematics, rhythmic movement appears to be a concatenation of discrete movements or discrete movement appears to be a truncated rhythmic...
As long as we only focus on kinematics, rhythmic movement appears to be a concatenation of discrete movements or discrete movement appears to be a truncated rhythmic movement. However, whether or not the neural control processes of discrete and rhythmic movements are distinct has not yet been clearly understood. Here, we address this issue by examining the motor learning transfer between these two types of movements testing the hypothesis that distinct neural control processes should lead to distinct motor learning and transfer. First, we found that the adaptation to an altered visuomotor condition was almost fully transferred from the discrete out-and-back movements to the rhythmic out-and-back movements; however, the transfer from the rhythmic to discrete movements was very small. Second, every time a new set of rhythmic movements was started, a considerable amount of movement error reappeared in the first and the following several cycles although the error converged to a small level by the end of each set. Last, we observed that when the discrete movement training was performed with intertrial intervals longer than 4 s, a significantly larger error appeared, specifically for the second and third cycles of the subsequent rhythmic movements, despite a seemingly full transfer to the first cycle. These results provide strong behavioral evidence that different neuronal control processes are involved in the two types of movements and that discrete control processes contribute to the generation of the first cycle of the rhythmic movement.
Topics: Adult; Discrimination, Psychological; Female; Functional Laterality; Humans; Male; Movement; Neuropsychological Tests; Periodicity; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Time Factors; Transfer, Psychology; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 20335489
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3066-09.2010 -
Cognition Mar 2018knowledge about the tasks we encounter enables us to rapidly and flexibly adapt to novel task contexts. Previous research has focused primarily on abstract rules that...
knowledge about the tasks we encounter enables us to rapidly and flexibly adapt to novel task contexts. Previous research has focused primarily on abstract rules that leverage shared structure in stimulus-response (S-R) mappings as the basis of such task knowledge. Here we provide evidence that working memory (WM) gating policies - a type of control policy required for internal control of WM during a task - constitute a form of abstract task knowledge that can be transferred across contexts. In two experiments, we report specific evidence for the transfer of selective WM gating policies across changes of task context. We show that this transfer is not tied to shared structure in S-R mappings, but instead in the dynamic structure of the task. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of WM gating policies in particular, and control policies in general, as a key component of the task knowledge that supports flexible behavior and task generalization.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Executive Function; Female; Generalization, Psychological; Humans; Male; Memory, Short-Term; Psychomotor Performance; Transfer, Psychology; Young Adult
PubMed: 29245108
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.12.001 -
ENeuro 2018Current theories suggest that the ability to control the body and to predict its associated sensory consequences is key for skilled motor behavior. It is also suggested...
Current theories suggest that the ability to control the body and to predict its associated sensory consequences is key for skilled motor behavior. It is also suggested that these abilities need to be updated when the mapping between motor commands and sensory consequences is altered. Here we challenge this view by investigating the transfer of adaptation to rotated visual feedback between one task in which human participants had to control a cursor with their hand in order to track a moving target, and another in which they had to predict with their eyes the visual consequences of their hand movement on the cursor. Hand and eye tracking performances were evaluated respectively through cursor-target and eye-cursor distance. Results reveal a striking dissociation: although prior adaptation of hand tracking greatly facilitates eye tracking, the adaptation of eye tracking does not transfer to hand tracking. We conclude that although the update of control is associated with the update of prediction, prediction can be updated independently of control. To account for this pattern of results, we propose that task demands mediate the update of prediction and control. Although a joint update of prediction and control seemed mandatory for success in our hand tracking task, the update of control was only facultative for success in our eye tracking task. More generally, those results promote the view that prediction and control are mediated by separate neural processes and suggest that people can learn to predict movement consequences without necessarily promoting their ability to control these movements.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Eye; Female; Hand; Humans; Male; Movement; Photic Stimulation; Psychomotor Performance; Transfer, Psychology; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 30627629
DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0280-18.2018 -
Cognitive Neuroscience Apr 2017Why does training on a task reduce the reaction time for performing it? New research points to changes in white matter pathways as one likely mechanism. These pathways... (Review)
Review
Why does training on a task reduce the reaction time for performing it? New research points to changes in white matter pathways as one likely mechanism. These pathways connect remote brain areas involved in performing the task. Genetic variations may be involved in individual differences in the extent of this improvement. If white matter change is involved in improved reaction time with training, it may point the way toward understanding where and how generalization occurs. We examine the hypothesis that brain pathways shared by different tasks may result in improved performance of cognitive tasks remote from the training.
Topics: Humans; Practice, Psychological; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Transfer, Psychology; White Matter
PubMed: 27064751
DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2016.1173664 -
Journal of Vision May 2024Historically, in many perceptual learning experiments, only a single stimulus is practiced, and learning is often specific to the trained feature. Our prior work has...
Historically, in many perceptual learning experiments, only a single stimulus is practiced, and learning is often specific to the trained feature. Our prior work has demonstrated that multi-stimulus learning (e.g., training-plus-exposure procedure) has the potential to achieve generalization. Here, we investigated two important characteristics of multi-stimulus learning, namely, roving and feature variability, and their impacts on multi-stimulus learning and generalization. We adopted a feature detection task in which an oddly oriented target bar differed by 16° from the background bars. The stimulus onset asynchrony threshold between the target and the mask was measured with a staircase procedure. Observers were trained with four target orientation search stimuli, either with a 5° deviation (30°-35°-40°-45°) or with a 45° deviation (30°-75°-120°-165°), and the four reference stimuli were presented in a roving manner. The transfer of learning to the swapped target-background orientations was evaluated after training. We found that multi-stimulus training with a 5° deviation resulted in significant learning improvement, but learning failed to transfer to the swapped target-background orientations. In contrast, training with a 45° deviation slowed learning but produced a significant generalization to swapped orientations. Furthermore, a modified training-plus-exposure procedure, in which observers were trained with four orientation search stimuli with a 5° deviation and simultaneously passively exposed to orientations with high feature variability (45° deviation), led to significant orientation learning generalization. Learning transfer also occurred when the four orientation search stimuli with a 5° deviation were presented in separate blocks. These results help us to specify the condition under which multistimuli learning produces generalization, which holds potential for real-world applications of perceptual learning, such as vision rehabilitation and expert training.
Topics: Humans; Young Adult; Male; Female; Adult; Photic Stimulation; Learning; Transfer, Psychology; Orientation, Spatial; Orientation
PubMed: 38691087
DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.5.2 -
The Journals of Gerontology. Series B,... Sep 2021Studies report benefits of physical exercise and cognitive training to enhance cognition in older adults. However, most studies did not compare these interventions to...
BACKGROUND
Studies report benefits of physical exercise and cognitive training to enhance cognition in older adults. However, most studies did not compare these interventions to appropriate active controls. Moreover, physical exercise and cognitive training seem to involve different mechanisms of brain plasticity, suggesting a potential synergistic effect on cognition.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the synergistic effect of cognitive training and aerobic/resistance physical exercise on dual-task performance in older adults. Intervention effects were compared to active controls for both the cognitive and the exercise domain.
METHOD
Eighty-seven older adults completed one of 4 different combinations of interventions, in which computer lessons was active control for cognitive training and stretching/toning exercise control for aerobic/resistance training: (a) cognitive dual-task training and aerobic/resistance training (COG+/AER+), (b) computer lessons and aerobic/resistance training (COG-/AER+), (c) cognitive dual-task training and stretching/toning exercises (COG+/AER-), and (d) computer lessons and stretching/toning exercises (COG-/AER-). The primary outcome was performance in an untrained transfer dual task. Stepwise backward removal regression analyses were used to predict pre- versus post-test changes in groups that have completed the dual-task training, aerobic/resistance or both interventions.
RESULTS
Participation in AER+ did not predict improvement in any dual-task outcomes. Participation in COG+ predicted reduction in dual-task cost and participation in COG+/AER+ predicted reduction in task-set cost.
DISCUSSION
Results suggest that the combination of cognitive and physical training protocols exerted a synergistic effect on task-set cost which reflects the cost of maintaining multiple response alternatives, whereas cognitive training specifically improved dual-task cost, which reflects the ability of synchronizing concurrent tasks.
Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Attention; Cognitive Remediation; Combined Modality Therapy; Executive Function; Exercise; Exercise Therapy; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Psychomotor Performance; Resistance Training; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 32803232
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa124 -
PloS One 2015Human performance on various visual tasks can be improved substantially via training. However, the enhancements are frequently specific to relatively low-level stimulus...
Human performance on various visual tasks can be improved substantially via training. However, the enhancements are frequently specific to relatively low-level stimulus dimensions. While such specificity has often been thought to be indicative of a low-level neural locus of learning, recent research suggests that these same effects can be accounted for by changes in higher-level areas--in particular in the way higher-level areas read out information from lower-level areas in the service of highly practiced decisions. Here we contrast the degree of orientation transfer seen after training on two different tasks--vernier acuity and stereoacuity. Importantly, while the decision rule that could improve vernier acuity (i.e. a discriminant in the image plane) would not be transferable across orientations, the simplest rule that could be learned to solve the stereoacuity task (i.e. a discriminant in the depth plane) would be insensitive to changes in orientation. Thus, given a read-out hypothesis, more substantial transfer would be expected as a result of stereoacuity than vernier acuity training. To test this prediction, participants were trained (7500 total trials) on either a stereoacuity (N = 9) or vernier acuity (N = 7) task with the stimuli in either a vertical or horizontal configuration (balanced across participants). Following training, transfer to the untrained orientation was assessed. As predicted, evidence for relatively orientation specific learning was observed in vernier trained participants, while no evidence of specificity was observed in stereo trained participants. These results build upon the emerging view that perceptual learning (even very specific learning effects) may reflect changes in inferences made by high-level areas, rather than necessarily fully reflecting changes in the receptive field properties of low-level areas.
Topics: Discrimination Learning; Humans; Orientation; Transfer, Psychology; Visual Acuity; Visual Perception
PubMed: 26700311
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145770 -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Mar 2008Using rules extracted from experience to solve problems in novel situations involves cognitions such as analogical reasoning and language learning and is considered a...
Using rules extracted from experience to solve problems in novel situations involves cognitions such as analogical reasoning and language learning and is considered a keystone of humans' unique abilities. Nonprimates, it has been argued, lack such rule transfer. We report that Rattus norvegicus can learn simple rules and apply them to new situations. Rats learned that sequences of stimuli consistent with a rule (such as XYX) were different from other sequences (such as XXY or YXX). When novel stimuli were used to construct sequences that did or did not obey the previously learned rule, rats transferred their learning. Therefore, rats, like humans, can transfer structural knowledge from sequential experiences.
Topics: Animals; Cognition; Cues; Learning; Male; Rats; Reinforcement, Psychology; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 18369151
DOI: 10.1126/science.1151564 -
Advances in Physiology Education Sep 2022Students often fail to utilize what they know about one topic (e.g., hemodynamics) when attempting to master another topic involving a similar phenomenon (e.g., airflow...
Students often fail to utilize what they know about one topic (e.g., hemodynamics) when attempting to master another topic involving a similar phenomenon (e.g., airflow in airways). What accounts for this difficulty that students have? And how can students be assisted in doing a better job of applying what they already know to new topics? The phenomenon described above is an example of a failure of transfer of learning. However, much is known about the conditions that foster or promote transfer of learning. Applying this emerging knowledge and focusing on the core concepts of physiology can make learning physiology easier and provide students with tools to support lifelong learning. Students often fail to utilize knowledge from prerequisite courses while learning physiology. They also fail to use what they know about one physiology topic when attempting to learn another topic. Much is known about the conditions that foster or promote transfer of learning. Applying this emerging knowledge and focusing on the core concepts of physiology can making learning physiology easier and provide students with tools to support lifelong learning.
Topics: Humans; Knowledge; Learning; Physiology; Students; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 35695289
DOI: 10.1152/advan.00005.2022