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

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 aco...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gabay, Yafit, Karni, Avi, Holt, Lori L
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10101687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36961499
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81855
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author Gabay, Yafit
Karni, Avi
Holt, Lori L
author_facet Gabay, Yafit
Karni, Avi
Holt, Lori L
author_sort Gabay, Yafit
collection PubMed
description 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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spelling pubmed-101016872023-04-14 Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval Gabay, Yafit Karni, Avi Holt, Lori L eLife Neuroscience 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. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2023-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10101687/ /pubmed/36961499 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81855 Text en © 2023, Gabay et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Gabay, Yafit
Karni, Avi
Holt, Lori L
Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval
title Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval
title_full Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval
title_fullStr Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval
title_full_unstemmed Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval
title_short Memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval
title_sort memory for incidentally learned categories evolves in the post-learning interval
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10101687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36961499
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81855
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