scholarly journals Assessing the detailed time course of perceptual sensitivity change in perceptual learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pan Zhang ◽  
Yukai Zhao ◽  
Barbara Anne Dosher ◽  
Zhong-Lin Lu
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Sensitivity Change

scholarly journals Efficient assessment of the time course of perceptual sensitivity change

2019 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 21-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukai Zhao ◽  
Luis Lesmes ◽  
Zhong-Lin Lu
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Sensitivity Change

Visual sensitivity across the menstrual cycle

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALVIN EISNER ◽  
SARA N. BURKE ◽  
MAUREEN D. TOOMEY
Keyword(s):  
Oral Contraceptive ◽  
Menstrual Cycle ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Light Adaptation ◽  
Contraceptive Use ◽  
Visual Sensitivity ◽  
Visual Adaptation ◽  
Hormonal Change ◽  
Menstrual Cycles ◽  
Sensitivity Change

This study was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that hormonal change can affect lower level light-adaptation processes, which are likely to be retinally based. Foveal visual sensitivities were measured across several menstrual cycles of four women not using hormonally acting medication and across several menstrual cycles of three women using a triphasic oral contraceptive. One woman, diagnosed with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), was a subject for both groups. Sensitivities were measured for a series of test wavelengths for 580-nm backgrounds of 2.0 and 4.0 log td. Of the six individuals tested, one had clear evidence of visual-adaptation changes occurring in phase with the menstrual cycle. Prior to using the oral contraceptive, this individual (the PMS subject) experienced changes of short-wavelength-sensitive (SWS)-cone-mediated sensitivities of up to about 1.4 log unit on the 4.0 log td background. Her SWS-cone-mediated sensitivities tended to be highest near ovulation and lowest premenstrually. Threshold-versus-illuminance (TVI) curves confirmed that the rate of sensitivity decrease with increasing background illuminance (i.e. the TVI slope) was greater premenstrually. The degree of background-induced desensitization within her middle-wavelength-sensitive (MWS)/long-wavelength-sensitive (LWS) cone pathways also appeared to vary cyclically, but the magnitude of the variation was smaller and the time course appeared to be different. When this subject began oral contraceptive use, the patterns of sensitivity change were all altered. None of the other five subjects experienced changes of SWS-cone-mediated vision that were cyclic and significantly adaptation-state dependent. However, there was evidence for a limited degree of cyclic adaptation change within the MWS/LWS cone pathways of at least one additional subject. We conclude that hormonal change can—for some unknown proportion of women—be linked to alterations of retinal function. However, the alterations are not the same for all visual pathways, and there are pronounced individual differences. The data also demonstrate that individuals' visual adaptation capabilities can vary substantially over periods of weeks.

The time course of auditory perceptual learning

Neuroreport ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (16) ◽  
pp. 3557-3560 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Tremblay ◽  
N Kraus ◽  
T McGee
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Time Course

scholarly journals Improving the performance of the amblyopic visual system

2008 ◽  
Vol 364 (1515) ◽  
pp. 399-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis M Levi ◽  
Roger W Li
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Clinical Evidence ◽  
Sensory Function ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Visual Improvement ◽  
Perceptual Performance ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency

Experience-dependent plasticity is closely linked with the development of sensory function; however, there is also growing evidence for plasticity in the adult visual system. This review re-examines the notion of a sensitive period for the treatment of amblyopia in the light of recent experimental and clinical evidence for neural plasticity. One recently proposed method for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of treatment that has received considerable attention is ‘perceptual learning’. Specifically, both children and adults with amblyopia can improve their perceptual performance through extensive practice on a challenging visual task. The results suggest that perceptual learning may be effective in improving a range of visual performance and, importantly, the improvements may transfer to visual acuity. Recent studies have sought to explore the limits and time course of perceptual learning as an adjunct to occlusion and to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the visual improvement. These findings, along with the results of new clinical trials, suggest that it might be time to reconsider our notions about neural plasticity in amblyopia.

scholarly journals The time-course of rapid stimulus-specific perceptual learning

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1090-1090
Author(s):  
A. Hashemi ◽  
J. W. Lass ◽  
D. Truong ◽  
A. B. Sekuler ◽  
P. J. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Time Course

scholarly journals Different Dynamics of Performance and Brain Activation in the Time Course of Perceptual Learning

Neuron ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 827-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuko Yotsumoto ◽  
Takeo Watanabe ◽  
Yuka Sasaki
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Brain Activation

scholarly journals Top-down modulation of sensory cortex gates perceptual learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (37) ◽  
pp. 9972-9977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa L. Caras ◽  
Dan H. Sanes
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Behavioral Outcomes ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Behavioral Sensitivity ◽  
Perceptual Performance ◽  
Sensory Encoding

Practice sharpens our perceptual judgments, a process known as perceptual learning. Although several brain regions and neural mechanisms have been proposed to support perceptual learning, formal tests of causality are lacking. Furthermore, the temporal relationship between neural and behavioral plasticity remains uncertain. To address these issues, we recorded the activity of auditory cortical neurons as gerbils trained on a sound detection task. Training led to improvements in cortical and behavioral sensitivity that were closely matched in terms of magnitude and time course. Surprisingly, the degree of neural improvement was behaviorally gated. During task performance, cortical improvements were large and predicted behavioral outcomes. In contrast, during nontask listening sessions, cortical improvements were weak and uncorrelated with perceptual performance. Targeted reduction of auditory cortical activity during training diminished perceptual learning while leaving psychometric performance largely unaffected. Collectively, our findings suggest that training facilitates perceptual learning by strengthening both bottom-up sensory encoding and top-down modulation of auditory cortex.

scholarly journals How Does Fearful Emotion Affect Visual Attention?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Shang ◽  
Yingying Wang ◽  
Taiyong Bi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Cueing Task ◽  
Fearful Face ◽  
The Face ◽  
Emotional Attention ◽  
Onset Asynchrony

It has long been suggested that emotion, especially threatening emotion, facilitates early visual perception to promote adaptive responses to potential threats in the environment. Here, we tested whether and how fearful emotion affects the basic visual ability of visual acuity. An adapted Posner’s spatial cueing task was employed, with fearful and neutral faces as cues and a Vernier discrimination task as the probe. The time course of the emotional attention effect was examined by varying the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of the cue and probe. Two independent experiments (Experiments 1 and 3) consistently demonstrated that the brief presentation of a fearful face increased visual acuity at its location. The facilitation of perceptual sensitivity was detected at an SOA around 300 ms when the face cues were presented for both 250 ms (Experiment 1) and 150 ms (Experiment 3). This effect cannot be explained by physical differences between the fearful and neutral faces because no improvement was found when the faces were presented inverted (Experiment 2). In the last experiment (Experiment 4), the face cues were flashed very briefly (17 ms), and we did not find any improvement induced by the fearful face. Overall, we provide evidence that emotion interacts with attention to affect basic visual functions.

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