The representational glue for incidental category learning is alignment with task-relevant behavior

Roark, Casey L.; Lehet, Matthew; Dick, Frederic; Holt, Lori L.

doi:10.31234/osf.io/mhbxc

Cited by 3 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Stimuli. Figure 1a illustrates four novel nonspeech auditory categories developed by Wade and Holt (2005) and used in prior studies Leech et al, 2009;Liu & Holt, 2011;Roark et al, 2021;Wade & Holt, 2005). These sounds have some of the spectrotemporal complexity of speech, but are unequivocally nonspeech owing to their noise and square wave sources.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants are not informed about the relationship, and it is not necessary to successfully reporting visual target location. But, since sound categories perfectly predict upcoming visual target location and the corresponding response button to be pressed (Roark et al, 2021), learning to categorize acoustically variable sounds in predicting the location of an upcoming visual target can facilitate visuomotor response on the primary task, without requiring overt sound categorization decisions or even awareness of the existence of auditory categories.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In natural environments, category learning tends to proceed across multiple, simultaneously present forms of input typically with no explicit instruction or feedback as a guide. Prior research demonstrates that speech and other auditory categories can be learned incidentally across statistically structured input even when individuals are unaware that categories exist, do not make overt category decisions, and do not receive explicit feedback Lim et al, 2019;Lim et al, 2015;Lim & Holt, 2011;Roark et al, 2021;Seitz et al, 2010;Vlahou et al, 2012;Wade & Holt, 2005).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Participants are not informed about the alignment of auditory categories to visual target location and can perform the visuomotor task without sound. Nonetheless, the relationship between the complex acoustic regularity defining the sound categories and the upcoming location of the visual target results in auditory category learning that generalizes robustly to novel exemplars Gabay et al, 2019;Roark et al, 2021;Wade & Holt, 2005). Accordingly, elimination of the category-to-location alignment produces a significant slowing in the time to detect the visual target -a RT Cost -indicative of a reliance on auditory categorization to facilitate speedy response to the visual target.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The mapping from auditory categories to the visual locations is many-to-one, and incidental category learning generalizes to overt labeling of novel category exemplars not experienced in the SMART task. Adult participants acquire novel auditory categories via incidental learning Wade & Holt, 2005) that are not learned across passive exposure or unsupervised sorting (Emberson et al, 2013;Roark et al, 2021;Wade & Holt, 2005), this learning is dependent upon categories being defined by acoustic regularities, even if complex Lim, Fiez & Holt, 2019), and by alignment of these regularities with a unique motor response (Roark et al, 2021). At the neural level, incidental auditory category learning has been associated with activation of cortico-striatal loops (posterior striatum, in particular the body of the caudate and putamen, with left posterior superior temporal sulcus; Lim, Fiez & Holt, 2019).…”

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Incidental Auditory Category Learning and Visuomotor Sequence Learning

Gabay¹,

Madlansacay²,

Holt³

2022

Preprint

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The environment provides multiple regularities that might be useful in guiding behavior if one can learn their structure. Understanding statistical learning across simultaneous regularities is important, but poorly understood. We investigate learning across two domains: motor sequence learning through the serial reaction time (SRT) task and incidental auditory category learning via the systematic multimodal association reaction time (SMART) task. Several commonalities raise the possibility that these two learning phenomena may draw on common cognitive resources and neural networks. In each, participants are uninformed of the regularities that they come to use to guide actions, the outcomes of which may provide a form of internal feedback. Despite these commonalities, it is unclear whether the learning challenges draw upon common resources. We used dual task conditions to compare learning of the regularities in isolation versus when they collaborated to simultaneously support behavior on a seemingly orthogonal visuomotor task. Learning occurred across the simultaneous regularities, without reduction even when the informational value of a regularity was reduced by presence of the additional, convergent regularity with learning that was compared learning the regularity in isolation. The lack of interference under dual task conditions suggests that motor sequence learning and incidental auditory category learning do not compete for common cognitive resources. Moreover learning when the informational value of an individual regularity is reduced by the presence of the other regularity is as robust as learning of the regularities in isolation, suggesting the simultaneous regularities do not compete for associative strength as in overshadowing effects.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Incidental Auditory Category Learning and Visuomotor Sequence Learning

Gabay¹,

Madlansacay²,

Holt³

2022

Preprint

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Memory for Incidentally Learned Categories Evolves in the Post-Learning Interval

Gabay¹,

Karni²,

Holt

2022

Preprint

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Humans can generate categories from complex regularities present in recurring instances of even imperfect sensory input. Here, we examined the possibility that incidental experiences can generate lasting category knowledge. Young adults practiced a simple visuomotor task not dependent on acoustic input. Novel categories of acoustically complex sounds aligned incidentally with distinct visuomotor responses in the primary task, but were not necessary for task performance. Incidental sound category learning emerged robustly when within-category sound exemplar variability was closely yoked to visuomotor task demands, and was not apparent in the initial session when this coupling was less robust. Nonetheless, incidentally acquired sound category knowledge was evident in both cases one day later, indicative of offline learning gains and, nine days later, learning in both cases supported explicit category labeling of novel sounds. Thus, a relatively brief incidental experience with multi-dimensional sound patterns aligned with behaviorally relevant actions and events can generate new sound categories, immediately after the learning experience or a day later. These categories undergo consolidation into long-term memory to support robust generalization of learning, rather than simply reflecting recall of specific sound-pattern exemplars previously encountered. The results demonstrate that humans forage for information to acquire new knowledge that may incidentally support behavior, even when learning is not strictly necessary for performance. This incidental learning is consolidated into long-term memory, with offline learning gains outside the learning experience.

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Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval

Gabay

Karni

Holt

2023

eLife

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Humans generate categories from complex regularities evolving across even imperfect sensory input. Here, we examined the possibility that incidental experiences can generate lasting category knowledge. Adults practiced a simple visuomotor task not dependent on acoustic input. Novel categories of acoustically complex sounds were not necessary for task success but aligned incidentally with distinct visuomotor responses in the task. Incidental sound category learning emerged robustly when within-category sound exemplar variability was closely yoked to visuomotor task demands and was not apparent in the initial session when this coupling was less robust. Nonetheless, incidentally acquired sound category knowledge was evident in both cases one day later, indicative of offline learning gains and, nine days later, learning in both cases supported explicit category labeling of novel sounds. Thus, a relatively brief incidental experience with multi-dimensional sound patterns aligned with behaviorally relevant actions and events can generate new sound categories, immediately after the learning experience or a day later. These categories undergo consolidation into long-term memory to support robust generalization of learning, rather than simply reflecting recall of specific sound-pattern exemplars previously encountered. Humans thus forage for information to acquire and consolidate new knowledge that may incidentally support behavior, even when learning is not strictly necessary for performance.

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The representational glue for incidental category learning is alignment with task-relevant behavior

Cited by 3 publications

References 34 publications

Incidental Auditory Category Learning and Visuomotor Sequence Learning

Incidental Auditory Category Learning and Visuomotor Sequence Learning

Memory for Incidentally Learned Categories Evolves in the Post-Learning Interval

Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval

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