Practising orientation identification improves orientation coding in V1 neurons
Open accessAbstract
The adult brain shows remarkable plasticity, as demonstrated by the improvement in fine sensorial discriminations after intensive practice. The behavioural aspects of such perceptual learning are well documented, especially in the visual system. Specificity for stimulus attributes clearly implicates an early cortical site, where receptive fields retain fine selectivity for these attributes; however, the neuronal correlates of a simple visual discrimination task remained unidentified. Here we report electrophysiological correlates in the primary visual cortex (V1) of monkeys for learning orientation identification. We link the behavioural improvement in this type of learning to an improved neuronal performance of trained compared to naive neurons. Improved long-term neuronal performance resulted from changes in the characteristics of orientation tuning of individual neurons. More particularly, the slope of the orientation tuning curve that was measured at the trained orientation increased only for the subgroup of trained neurons most likely to code the orientation identified by the monkey. No modifications of the tuning curve were observed for orientations for which the monkey had not been trained. Thus training induces a specific and efficient increase in neuronal sensitivity in V1.
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In non-human primates trained to identify the orientation of a visual stimulus, neural gain increases with learning specifically in cells tuned to the learned orientation.
“In non-human primates trained to identify the orientation of a visual stimulus, neural gain increases with learning specifically in cells tuned to the learned orientation54.”
From Mechanisms underlying gain modulation in the cortex (2020) · cites this paper as [54]
Monkeys trained on visual tasks show only moderate or no change in early visual cortex.
“However, monkeys trained on visual tasks show only moderate or no change in early visual cortex7–11.”
From Neural correlates of perceptual learning in a sensory-motor, but not a sensory, cortical area (2008) · cites this paper as [7]
Electrophysiological studies in monkeys found little or no changes in V1 with perceptual learning.
“electrophysiological studies in monkeys that found little or no changes in V1 with perceptual learning7–9”
From Neural correlates of perceptual learning in a sensory-motor, but not a sensory, cortical area (2008) · cites this paper as [7]
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- Authors
- Schoups, A., Vogels, R., Qian, N., & Orban, G.
- Affiliations
- KU Leuven (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Schoups, Aniek
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2001-08-01
- Volume
- 412
- Issue
- 6846
- Pages
- 549-553
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1963769676
- Cited by
- 856
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 51
- FWCI
- 11.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- lirias.kuleuven.be
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- National Institutes of Health
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- perceptual learning, orientation identification, primary visual cortex, orientation tuning curves, neuroplasticity, orientation coding, visual discrimination
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Electrophysiology, Learning, Macaca mulatta, Male, Neuronal Plasticity, Neurons, Visual Cortex, Visual Perception
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