Exogenous attention facilitates perceptual learning in visual acuity to untrained stimulus locations and features

Abstract

Visual perceptual learning (VPL) refers to the improvement in performance on a visual task due to practice. A hallmark of VPL is specificity, as improvements are often confined to the trained retinal locations or stimulus features. We have previously found that exogenous (involuntary, stimulus-driven) and endogenous (voluntary, goal-driven) spatial attention can facilitate the transfer of VPL across locations in orientation discrimination tasks mediated by contrast sensitivity. Here, we investigated whether exogenous spatial attention can facilitate such transfer in acuity tasks that have been associated with higher specificity. We trained observers for 3 days (days 2-4) in a Landolt acuity task (Experiment 1) or a Vernier hyperacuity task (Experiment 2), with either exogenous precues (attention group) or neutral precues (neutral group). Importantly, during pre-tests (day 1) and post-tests (day 5), all observers were tested with neutral precues; thus, groups differed only in their attentional allocation during training. For the Landolt acuity task, we found evidence of location transfer in both the neutral and attention groups, suggesting weak location specificity of VPL. For the Vernier hyperacuity task, we found evidence of location and feature specificity in the neutral group, and learning transfer in the attention group-similar improvement at trained and untrained locations and features. Our results reveal that, when there is specificity in a perceptual acuity task, exogenous spatial attention can overcome that specificity and facilitate learning transfer to both untrained locations and features simultaneously with the same training. Thus, in addition to improving performance, exogenous attention generalizes perceptual learning across locations and features.

Exogenous attention generalizes location transfer of perceptual learning in adults with amblyopia

“…In contrast, the Attention group showed VPL location transfer -similar d' improvement in both eyes at the trained and untrained diagonals. We found that spatial attention helps overcome location specificity, consistent with the few studies that have isolated the role of spatial attention during VPL and location transfer in neurotypical adults [28][29][30].…”

“…Our training protocol successfully induced VPL. After training the amblyopic eye, both eyes of most observers in both groups exhibited similar performance improvements -higher d' and faster RTat the trained diagonal; training with attention did not potentiate the overall improvement at the trained diagonal, consistent with [28][29][30]. Our study contributes to a rich VPL literature in both neurotypical humans (reviews [1][2][3][4][5]) and those with amblyopia (reviews [10,12,[20][21][22][23]) demonstrating impressive neuroplasticity in the adult brain.…”

“…Spatial covert attention -the selective processing of visual information without accompanying eye movements-improves performance in a variety of detection, discrimination and localization tasks (reviews [24][25][26]). Recent studies manipulating observers' covert spatial attention during practice [27][28][29][30][31] have revealed that selective attention can enable VPL [27], and help overcome specificity [28][29][30] in neurotypical adults. Observers who trained with exogenous (involuntary) attention acquired VPL, but those who trained without focused attention under otherwise identical conditions did not [27].…”

“…Moreover, deploying exogenous [28] or endogenous (voluntary; [29]) spatial attention during training facilitates the transfer of improved orientation discrimination to untrained locations. Exogenous attention also facilitates VPL transfer in visual acuity to untrained stimulus locations and features [30]. In these studies, to isolate the attentional effect, separate groups of observers were trained with either valid attentional cues, i.e., which focused spatial attention at the target location, or neutral cues, i.e., which evenly spread spatial attention across all spatial locations.…”

Bifocal tACS Enhances Visual Motion Discrimination by Modulating Phase Amplitude Coupling Between V1 and V5 Regions

“…However, subsequent learning of a new direction is faster (Liu and Weinshall, 2000), suggesting the involvement of some higher-level processes. Furthermore, the manipulation of higher cognitive control processes, such as endogenous covert attention or exogenous spatial attention, improves stimuli location transfer and visual perceptual learning transfer to untrained stimulus location and features, respectively (Donovan et al, 2020; Donovan and Carrasco, 2018). Visual improvements would then rely on the interaction between multiple cortical areas (Gilbert et al, 2001), the combination of local intrinsic circuits and feedback connections from higher order cortical areas (Dosher and Lu, 1998; Gilbert and Sigman, 2007).…”