scholarly journals Attentional Enhancement via Selection and Pooling of Early Sensory Responses in Human Visual Cortex

Neuron ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 832-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco Pestilli ◽  
Marisa Carrasco ◽  
David J. Heeger ◽  
Justin L. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Human Visual Cortex ◽  
Sensory Responses

scholarly journals Enhanced attentional gain as a mechanism for generalized perceptual learning in human visual cortex

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 1217-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Byers ◽  
John T. Serences
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Broad Class ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Human Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Response Profiles ◽  
Sensory Responses

Learning to better discriminate a specific visual feature (i.e., a specific orientation in a specific region of space) has been associated with plasticity in early visual areas ( sensory modulation) and with improvements in the transmission of sensory information from early visual areas to downstream sensorimotor and decision regions ( enhanced readout). However, in many real-world scenarios that require perceptual expertise, observers need to efficiently process numerous exemplars from a broad stimulus class as opposed to just a single stimulus feature. Some previous data suggest that perceptual learning leads to highly specific neural modulations that support the discrimination of specific trained features. However, the extent to which perceptual learning acts to improve the discriminability of a broad class of stimuli via the modulation of sensory responses in human visual cortex remains largely unknown. Here, we used functional MRI and a multivariate analysis method to reconstruct orientation-selective response profiles based on activation patterns in the early visual cortex before and after subjects learned to discriminate small offsets in a set of grating stimuli that were rendered in one of nine possible orientations. Behavioral performance improved across 10 training sessions, and there was a training-related increase in the amplitude of orientation-selective response profiles in V1, V2, and V3 when orientation was task relevant compared with when it was task irrelevant. These results suggest that generalized perceptual learning can lead to modified responses in the early visual cortex in a manner that is suitable for supporting improved discriminability of stimuli drawn from a large set of exemplars.

scholarly journals P2-7: Encoding of Graded Changes in Validity of Spatial Priors in Human Visual Cortex

i-Perception ◽  
10.1068/if668 ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 668-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuko Hara ◽  
Justin L Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Human Visual Cortex
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