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Updated: Mar 15, 2026
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Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns
Published on: May 12, 2019
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Magnetic stimulation of visual cortex impairs perceptual learning.
Antonello Baldassarre1, Paolo Capotosto1, Giorgia Committeri1
1Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Science - and ITAB, Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies University "G. D'Annunzio" Via dei Vestini 33, Chieti, 66100, Italy.
Neuroimage
|September 5, 2016
Summary
Perceptual learning of shape identification relies on visual cortex regions (V2d/V3 and LO). Disrupting these areas, but not parietal regions, impaired performance, confirming their causal role.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Perceptual learning enhances visual stimulus processing, crucial for survival.
- Neuroimaging shows shape identification training modulates frontal-parietal and visual cortex activity.
- Specifically, intra-parietal sulcus (pIPS) shows decreased activation, while visual areas (V2d/V3, LO) show increased activation for trained shapes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the causal role of modulated visual and parietal regions in shape identification perceptual learning.
- To determine if disrupting specific brain regions impacts performance on learned shape identification tasks.
Main Methods:
- Intensive training on a shape identification task.
- Application of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over visual occipital (V2d/V3, LO) and parietal (pIPS) regions.
- Comparison of reaction times between stimulated regions and a sham control condition.
Main Results:
- Interference with V2d/V3 and LO significantly increased reaction times to learned stimuli compared to pIPS and sham conditions.
- The impairment in performance after stimulating visual regions was positively correlated.
- Parietal stimulation (pIPS) did not significantly affect reaction times to learned stimuli.
Conclusions:
- The visual network, specifically V2d/V3 and LO, plays a causal role in perceptual learning for shape identification.
- Frontal-parietal regions are less critical for the execution of learned shape identification.
- These findings highlight the necessity of visual cortex engagement for successful perceptual learning.
