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Neural correlates of perceptual learning in a sensory-motor, but not a sensory, cortical area

Nature Neuroscience volume 11, pages 505–513 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

This study aimed to identify neural mechanisms that underlie perceptual learning in a visual-discrimination task. We trained two monkeys (Macaca mulatta) to determine the direction of visual motion while we recorded from their middle temporal area (MT), which in trained monkeys represents motion information that is used to solve the task, and lateral intraparietal area (LIP), which represents the transformation of motion information into a saccadic choice. During training, improved behavioral sensitivity to weak motion signals was accompanied by changes in motion-driven responses of neurons in LIP, but not in MT. The time course and magnitude of the changes in LIP correlated with the changes in behavioral sensitivity throughout training. Thus, for this task, perceptual learning does not appear to involve improvements in how sensory information is represented in the brain, but rather how the sensory representation is interpreted to form the decision that guides behavior.

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Figure 1: Task and anatomical localization.
Figure 2: Behavior.
Figure 3: MT responses.
Figure 4: LIP responses.
Figure 5: Relationship between the coherence- and time-dependent LIP responses (k3, equation (3)) and various behavioral, motor and motivational parameters.
Figure 6: Decision model.
Figure 7: Specificity of learning.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Shadlen, L. Ding, M. Nassar, B. Heasley, R. Kalwani, P. Connolly, C.-L. Teng and S. Bennur for helpful comments on this manuscript and J. Zweigle for expert technical assistance. This research was supported by the Sloan Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund and the US National Institutes of Health (R01-EY015260 and T32-EY007035).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, 116 Johnson Pavilion, 3610 Hamilton Walk, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 19104-6074, Pennsylvania, USA

    Chi-Tat Law & Joshua I Gold

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  1. Chi-Tat Law
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  2. Joshua I Gold
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J.I.G. planned and supervised the study. C.L. conducted the experiments and data analyses. C.L. and J.I.G. wrote the manuscript together.

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Correspondence to Joshua I Gold.

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Law, CT., Gold, J. Neural correlates of perceptual learning in a sensory-motor, but not a sensory, cortical area. Nat Neurosci 11, 505–513 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn2070

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