Expertise modulates the neural basis of context dependent recognition of objects and their relations

Abstract

Recognition of objects and their relations is necessary for orienting in real life. We examined cognitive processes related to recognition of objects, their relations, and the patterns they form by using the game of chess. Chess enables us to compare experts with novices and thus gain insight in the nature of development of recognition skills. Eye movement recordings showed that experts were generally faster than novices on a task that required enumeration of relations between chess objects because their extensive knowledge enabled them to immediately focus on the objects of interest. The advantage was less pronounced on random positions where the location of chess objects, and thus typical relations between them, was randomized. Neuroimaging data related experts' superior performance to the areas along the dorsal stream-bilateral posterior temporal areas and left inferior parietal lobe were related to recognition of object and their functions. The bilateral collateral sulci, together with bilateral retrosplenial cortex, were also more sensitive to normal than random positions among experts indicating their involvement in pattern recognition. The pattern of activations suggests experts engage the same regions as novices, but also that they employ novel additional regions. Expert processing, as the final stage of development, is qualitatively different than novice processing, which can be viewed as the starting stage. Since we are all experts in real life and dealing with meaningful stimuli in typical contexts, our results underline the importance of expert-like cognitive processing on generalization of laboratory results to everyday life.

Quick concurrent responses to global and local cognitive information underlie intuitive understanding in board-game experts

“…Therefore, the temporal area is responsible for the detailed pattern recognition of piece positions. This interpretation is consistent with the results of previous neuroimaging studies of chess121314151617.…”

“…Some regions show larger activation for meaningful game positions than they do for random positions11121314151617; these are the precuneus11, parahippocampal gyrus12, collateral sulci13, retrosplenial cortex14, posterior cingulate15 and insula16. Other regions respond to both game and random positions similarly; these are the posterior middle temporal gyrus, occipitotemporal junction13 and fusiform face area17.…”

What is special about expertise? Visual expertise reveals the interactive nature of real-world object recognition

“…Chess employs multiple cognitive functions, including object recognition, conceptual knowledge, memory, and the processing of spatial configurations (Gobet and Charness, 2006). Accordingly, several cortical regions outside of OTC are reported to be active in chess experts when they are viewing chessboards (Bilalić et al, 2010(Bilalić et al, , 2012Krawczyk et al, 2011). Like in car expertise, chess expertise-related activity was found to be widespread, extending beyond visual cortex to include activations in collateral sulcus (CoS), posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), occipitotemporal junction (OTJ), supplementary motor area (SMA), primary motor cortex (M1), and left anterior insula.…”

“…These regions have been suggested to support pattern recognition, perception of complex relations, and action-related functional knowledge of chess objects (Bilalić et al, 2010). Furthermore, Bilalić and colleagues demonstrated that top-down factors, such as task context and prior knowledge play an essential role in driving cortical activations in chess experts (Bilalić et al, 2010(Bilalić et al, , 2011(Bilalić et al, , 2012. The distributed patterns of activation underlying chess expertise were observed only when the experimental task was relevant for the domain of expertise (e.g., searching for particular chess pieces), and not when a comparable control task was used (i.e., a task that did not require the recognition of particular chess pieces) with identical visual input.…”

Knowing when not to swing: EEG evidence that enhanced perception–action coupling underlies baseball batter expertise

“…Bar hypothesizes that the associations driven in part by the orbitofrontal cortex combine with the visual expertise driven in part by the FFA to produce superior prediction capabilities in visual experts. The fusiform gyrus (FG), an area that includes the FFA, is best know for its face selectivity (Grill-Spector et al, 2004; Kanwisher et al, 1997; Liu et al, 2010), though more recently, studies have shown that the FFA responds to dynamic biological motion (Peelen et al, 2006; Sokolov et al, 2012) and non-face objects, if those objects are associated with expertise (Bilalić et al, 2011; Bilalic et al, 2012; Gauthier et al, 1999; McGugin et al, 2012; Rossion et al, 2004; Tong et al, 2008; Xu, 2005) suggesting a role for FFA, and potentially OFC, in perception-action coupling for expertise-driven rapid visual decisions.…”