Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Flexible learning of natural statistics in the human brain

Schwarzkopf, D. S., Zhang, Jiaxiang ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4758-0394 and Kourtzi, Z. 2009. Flexible learning of natural statistics in the human brain. Journal of Neurophysiology 102 (3) , pp. 1854-1867. 10.1152/jn.00028.2009

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

The ability to detect and identify targets in cluttered scenes is a critical skill for survival and interactions. To solve this challenge the brain has optimized mechanisms for capitalizing on frequently occurring regularities in the environment. Although evolution and development have been suggested to shape the brain's architecture in a manner that resembles these natural statistics, we provide novel evidence that short-term experience in adulthood may modify the brain's functional organization to support integration of signals atypical of shape contours in natural scenes. Although collinearity is a prevalent principle for perceptual integration in natural scenes, we show that observers learn to exploit other image regularities (i.e., orthogonal alignments of segments at an angle to the contour path) that typically signify discontinuities. Combining behavioral and functional MRI measurements, we demonstrate that this flexible learning is mediated by changes in the neural representations of behaviorally relevant image regularities primarily in dorsal visual areas. These changes in neural sensitivity are in line with changes in perceptual sensitivity for the detection of orthogonal contours and are evident only in observers that show significant performance improvement. In contrast, changes in the activation extent in frontoparietal regions are evident independent of performance changes, may support the detection of salient regions, and modulate perceptual integration in occipitotemporal areas in a top-down manner. Thus experience at shorter timescales in adulthood supports the adaptive functional optimization of visual circuits for flexible interpretation of natural scenes.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Psychology
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Publisher: American Physiological Society
ISSN: 0022-3077
Last Modified: 27 Oct 2022 10:10
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/69150

Citation Data

Cited 19 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item