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Published on: April 11, 2025
Serial dependence predicts generalization in perceptual learning
Noga Pinchuk-Yacobi1,2, Dov Sagi3, Yoram S Bonneh1,2
1School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Life Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Elife
|July 20, 2026
Summary
Short-term memory traces, known as serial-dependence effects (SDEs), enhance visual learning generalization. These effects, even when stimuli are uninformative, predict learning transfer and support cognitive flexibility.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Visual perception is influenced by recent experiences.
- The accumulation of short-term memory traces for long-term learning and generalization is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if short-term memory traces, specifically attractive serial-dependence effects (SDEs), promote the generalization of visual learning.
- To explore the temporal dynamics and persistence of SDEs in relation to learning generalization.
Main Methods:
- Reanalysis of over 200,000 trials from a visual texture-discrimination task.
- Comparison of SDEs across three conditions designed to modulate generalization.
- Correlation analysis between SDE magnitude and learning transfer across locations.
Main Results:
- Serial-dependence effects (SDEs) were found to persist longer than previously reported, even with non-informative past stimuli.
- Conditions supporting generalization exhibited larger long-range SDEs.
- Individual SDE magnitude predicted the transfer of learning across different locations.
Conclusions:
- Attractive serial dependence (SDE) is linked to perceptual learning flexibility.
- SDE provides a framework for understanding when and why perceptual learning generalizes.
- SDE reflects ongoing template plasticity essential for cognitive flexibility in dynamic environments.
Keywords:
decision makinghumanlearning generalizationneuroscienceperceptual learningserial dependencetemporal integrationvisual perceptionMore Related Videos
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