Asymmetric Transfer of Task Dependent Perceptual Learning

The effects of perceptual learning (PL) on the sensory representation are not fully understood, especially for higher-level visual mechanisms more directly relevant to behavior. The objective of this research is to elucidate the mechanisms that mediate task dependent learning by determining where and how task dependent learning occurs in the later stages of visual motion processing. Eighteen subjects were trained to perform a dual-2TAFC visual discrimination task in which they were required to simultaneously detect changes in the direction of moving dots (task-1) and the proportion of red dots (task-2) shown in two stimulus apertures presented in either the left or right visual field. Subjects trained on the direction discrimination task for one of two types of motion, global radial motions (expansion and contraction) presented across stimulus apertures (global task), or an equivalent (local) motion stimulus formed by rotating the direction of motion in one aperture by 180o. In task-1 subjects were required to indicate whether the directions of motion in the second stimulu