Distributed neural plasticity for shape learning in the human visual cortex.

ABSTRACT: Expertise in recognizing objects in cluttered scenes is a critical skill for our interactions in complex environments and is thought to develop with learning. However, the neural implementation of object learning across stages of visual analysis in the human brain remains largely unknown. Using combined psychophysics and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we show a link between shape-specific learning in cluttered scenes and distributed neuronal plasticity in the human visual cortex. We report stronger fMRI responses for trained than untrained shapes across early and higher visual areas when observers learned to detect low-salience shapes in noisy backgrounds. However, training with high-salience pop-out targets resulted in lower fMRI responses for trained than untrained shapes

SUBMITTER: Kourtzi Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1150289 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature