Evoked-potential changes following discrimination learning involving complex sounds.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Perceptual sensitivities are malleable via learning, even in adults. We trained adults to discriminate complex sounds (periodic, frequency-modulated sweep trains) using two different training procedures, and used psychoacoustic tests and evoked potential measures (the N1-P2 complex) to assess changes in both perceptual and neural sensitivities.

Methods

Training took place either on a single day, or daily across eight days, and involved discrimination of pairs of stimuli using a single-interval, forced-choice task. In some participants, training started with dissimilar pairs that became progressively more similar across sessions, whereas in others training was constant, involving only one, highly similar, stimulus pair.

Results

Participants were better able t

SUBMITTER: Orduna I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3277806 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature