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Tilt aftereffect from orientation discrimination learning

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Abstract

Using psychophysical methods, the present study aims to investigate whether orientation discrimination learning can modify the visual cortex and how the modification is related to the development of perceptual learning (performance improvement). In Experiment 1, subjects were trained with an orientation discrimination task at the orientation of 15° right tilted from the vertical. The training not only improved subjects’ orientation discrimination performance, but also shifted their perceived vertical toward the trained orientation, which resembles a well-known visual illusion—tilt aftereffect. Interestingly, the change of perceived vertical and performance improvement had different dynamics. Subjects’ performance levels were maintained at a constant level, even 2 months after training. However, their perceived vertical changes reduced dramatically 1 week after training. In addition, Experiment 1 showed that there was only a weak transfer of the perceived vertical change from the trained location to the untrained location. Experiment 2 demonstrated that subjects’ perceived vertical was not affected by training at 75°. These results suggest that the orientation discrimination training could modify neuronal responses in human retinotopic visual areas and the development of perceptual learning is not a single neural process.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Qingleng Tan for her assistance in data collection. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2011CBA00405 and 2010CB833903), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 30925014, 90920012 and 30870762) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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  1. Department of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Nihong Chen & Fang Fang

  2. Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Fang Fang

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  1. Nihong Chen
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  2. Fang Fang
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Correspondence to Fang Fang.

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Chen, N., Fang, F. Tilt aftereffect from orientation discrimination learning. Exp Brain Res 215, 227–234 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2895-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2895-5

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