Perceptual learning reconfigures the effects of visual adaptation

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Perception
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Sensory experiences across timescales shape environmental perception.
• Visual adaptation and perceptual learning are distinct short-term plasticities with different time courses and perceptual effects.
• Neural mechanisms and perceptual consequences of adaptation and learning are blurring, suggesting potential interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interaction between perceptual learning and neural adaptation in humans.
• To examine the perceptual consequences of learning a fine discrimination task during neural adaptation.
• To understand how these two forms of plasticity influence each other.

Main Methods:

• Human participants performed a fine discrimination task.
• Neural adaptation was induced in neurons critical for the task.
• Perceptual consequences of learning and adaptation were measured by changes in discrimination thresholds.

Main Results:

• Perceptual learning significantly improved discriminative accuracy, surpassing unadapted levels.
• Neural adaptation elevated discrimination thresholds, particularly in directions that were previously unaffected by adaptation.
• Improvements in accuracy occurred rapidly, while threshold deterioration showed a different time course.
• Learned reconfiguration of accuracy persisted despite the adapted state, without altering perceptual biases.

Conclusions:

• A functionally meaningful push-pull interaction exists between learning and adaptation.
• Gain in sensitivity in one adapted state is counterbalanced by a loss of sensitivity in other adapted states.
• This interaction highlights the dynamic interplay between experience-dependent plasticity mechanisms in shaping perception.