Two perceptual consequences of orientation discrimination learning and their distinct time courses

Purpose: To establish the time course of the subjective visual function changes during the first month of orthokeratology treatment in myopic children, and to investigate how the time course variations are associated with the objective optical quality changes and the axial length growth (ALG) after 1 year of treatment.Methods: A total of 58 myopic children aged from 8 to 16 years participated in this self-controlled prospective study. All subjects were fitted with designed spherical four-zone orthokeratology lenses. Subjective visual function was evaluated with orientation discrimination threshold (ODT), and objective optical quality was quantified with the high-order aberration root-mean-square (HOA-RMS) and the changing speed of HOA. The measurements were done before the lens fitting and 1 day, 1-, 2-, and 4-weeks after lens wear. Axial length was obtained at baseline and 1-year follow-up, and ALG was defined as the difference. One-way ANOVA was conducted to compare the difference for statistical analysis.Results: After lens fitting, the ODT time courses peaked on day 1 in 28 children, 1 week in 15 children, 2 weeks in 11 children, and 4 weeks in 4 children. In contrast, the HOA-RMS steadily rose during the first month, and the changing speed of HOA was only transiently elevated on day 1 after the initial lens wear. The ALG was 0.12 ± 0.20 mm in subjects whose ODT peaked at day 1, 0.08 ± 0.09 mm in subjects whose ODT peaked on 1-week, and 0.12 ± 0.15 mm in subjects whose ODT peaked on 2-week or later. There was no difference in axial growth among the subjects whose ODT peaked at different days (P = 0.734).Conclusion: While half ODT time course resembled the changing speed of HOA with a transient elevation on day 1, about a quarter of the ODT time course resemble the steadily rising of HOA-RMS, and the rest was located in the middle. The ALGs in children with different types of ODT time courses were similar.

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Within-quadrant position and orientation specificity after extensive orientation discrimination learning is related to performance gains during late learning

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0201520 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. e0201520 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gesa Lange ◽

Eric Lowet ◽

Mark J. Roberts ◽

Peter De Weerd

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Learning ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Position And Orientation ◽

Orientation Specificity ◽

Performance Gains

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The causal role of transcranial alternating current stimulation at alpha frequency in boosting visual perceptual learning

10.1101/2021.04.08.438912 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Qing He ◽

Baoqi Gong ◽

Keyan Bi ◽

Fang Fang

Keyword(s):

Perceptual Learning ◽

Discrimination Learning ◽

Alternating Current ◽

Causal Role ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Visual Perceptual Learning ◽

Specific Manner ◽

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation ◽

40 Hz

Extensive training improves our ability to perceive visual contents around us, a phenomenon known as visual perceptual learning (VPL). Numerous studies have been conducted to understand the mechanisms of VPL, while the neural oscillatory mechanisms underpinning VPL has yet to be elucidated. To this end, we adopted transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), a neuromodulatory technique that can alter ongoing brain rhythms in a frequency-specific manner by applying external weak electric fields, to stimulate targeted cortical areas in human subjects while they performed an orientation discrimination learning task. Five groups of subjects undertook five daily training sessions to execute the task. Four groups received occipital tACS stimulation at 10 Hz (alpha band), 20 Hz (beta band), 40 Hz (gamma band), or sham 10 Hz (sham), and one group was stimulated at the sensorimotor regions by 10 Hz tACS. Compared with the sham stimulation, occipital tACS at 10 Hz, but not at 20 Hz or 40 Hz, increased both the learning rate and performance improvement. However, when 10 Hz tACS was delivered to the sensorimotor areas, the modulatory effects of tACS were absent, suggesting that tACS modulated the orientation discrimination learning in a frequency- and location-specific manner. Moreover, the tACS-induced enhancement lasted at least two months after the termination of training. Our findings provide strong evidence for the causal role of alpha oscillations in VPL and shed new light on the design of effective neuromodulation protocols that might facilitate rehabilitation for patients with neuro-ophthalmological disorders.

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Tilt aftereffect from orientation discrimination learning

Experimental Brain Research ◽

10.1007/s00221-011-2895-5 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 215 (3-4) ◽

pp. 227-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Nihong Chen ◽

Fang Fang

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Learning ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Tilt Aftereffect

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Dissociable Processes for Orientation Discrimination Learning and Contextual Illusion Magnitude

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0103121 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (7) ◽

pp. e103121

Author(s):

Charlotte Elizabeth Holmes Wilks ◽

Geraint Rees ◽

Dietrich Samuel Schwarzkopf

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Learning ◽

Illusion Magnitude ◽

Orientation Discrimination

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Distinctive Phonetic Features as Relevant and Irrelevant Stimulus Dimensions in Speech-Sound Discrimination Learning

Journal of Speech and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.1703.417 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 417-425

Author(s):

Stuart I. Ritterman ◽

Nancy C. Freeman

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Discrimination Learning ◽

Irrelevant Dimension ◽

Speech Sound ◽

Irrelevant Stimulus ◽

Relevant Dimension ◽

Phonetic Features ◽

Sound Discrimination ◽

Nonsense Syllables

Thirty-two college students were required to learn the relevant dimension in each of two randomized lists of auditorily presented stimuli. The stimuli consisted of seven pairs of CV nonsense syllables differing by two relevant dimension units and from zero to seven irrelevant dimension units. Stimulus dimensions were determined according to Saporta’s units of difference. No significant differences in performance as a function of number of the irrelevant dimensions nor characteristics of the relevant dimension were observed.

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Orienting and Focusing in Voluntary and Involuntary Visuospatial Attention Conditions

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 198-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Yan Wang ◽

Jianhui Wu ◽

Shimin Fu ◽

Yuejia Luo

Keyword(s):

Gain Control ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Involuntary Attention ◽

Attention Condition ◽

Voluntary Attention ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Underlying Mechanisms

In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measurements in a peripherally cued line-orientation discrimination task to investigate the underlying mechanisms of orienting and focusing in voluntary and involuntary attention conditions. Informative peripheral cue (75% valid) with long stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was used in the voluntary attention condition; uninformative peripheral cue (50% valid) with short SOA was used in the involuntary attention condition. Both orienting and focusing were affected by attention type. Results for attention orienting in the voluntary attention condition confirmed the “sensory gain control theory,” as attention enhanced the amplitude of the early ERP components, P1 and N1, without latency changes. In the involuntary attention condition, compared with invalid trials, targets in the valid trials elicited larger and later contralateral P1 components, and smaller and later contralateral N1 components. Furthermore, but only in the voluntary attention condition, targets in the valid trials elicited larger N2 and P3 components than in the invalid trials. Attention focusing in the involuntary attention condition resulted in larger P1 components elicited by targets in small-cue trials compared to large-cue trials, whereas in the voluntary attention condition, larger P1 components were elicited by targets in large-cue trials than in small-cue trials. There was no interaction between orienting and focusing. These results suggest that orienting and focusing of visual-spatial attention are deployed independently regardless of attention type. In addition, the present results provide evidence of dissociation between voluntary and involuntary attention during the same task.

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