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Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking

BACKGROUND: Tracking moving objects in space is important for the maintenance of spatiotemporal continuity in everyday visual tasks. In the laboratory, this ability is tested using the Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task, where participants track a subset of moving objects with attention over an ext...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Makovski, Tal, Vázquez, Gustavo A., Jiang, Yuhong V.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2375111/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18493599
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002228
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author Makovski, Tal
Vázquez, Gustavo A.
Jiang, Yuhong V.
author_facet Makovski, Tal
Vázquez, Gustavo A.
Jiang, Yuhong V.
author_sort Makovski, Tal
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Tracking moving objects in space is important for the maintenance of spatiotemporal continuity in everyday visual tasks. In the laboratory, this ability is tested using the Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task, where participants track a subset of moving objects with attention over an extended period of time. The ability to track multiple objects with attention is severely limited. Recent research has shown that this ability may improve with extensive practice (e.g., from action videogame playing). However, whether tracking also improves in a short training session with repeated trajectories has rarely been investigated. In this study we examine the role of visual learning in multiple-object tracking and characterize how varieties of attention interact with visual learning. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Participants first conducted attentive tracking on trials with repeated motion trajectories for a short session. In a transfer phase we used the same motion trajectories but changed the role of tracking targets and nontargets. We found that compared with novel trials, tracking was enhanced only when the target subset was the same as that used during training. Learning did not transfer when the previously trained targets and nontargets switched roles or mixed up. However, learning was not specific to the trained temporal order as it transferred to trials where the motion was played backwards. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that a demanding task of tracking multiple objects can benefit from learning of repeated motion trajectories. Such learning potentially facilitates tracking in natural vision, although learning is largely confined to the trajectories of attended objects. Furthermore, we showed that learning in attentive tracking relies on relational coding of all target trajectories. Surprisingly, learning was not specific to the trained temporal context, probably because observers have learned motion paths of each trajectory independently of the exact temporal order.
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spelling pubmed-23751112008-05-21 Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking Makovski, Tal Vázquez, Gustavo A. Jiang, Yuhong V. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Tracking moving objects in space is important for the maintenance of spatiotemporal continuity in everyday visual tasks. In the laboratory, this ability is tested using the Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task, where participants track a subset of moving objects with attention over an extended period of time. The ability to track multiple objects with attention is severely limited. Recent research has shown that this ability may improve with extensive practice (e.g., from action videogame playing). However, whether tracking also improves in a short training session with repeated trajectories has rarely been investigated. In this study we examine the role of visual learning in multiple-object tracking and characterize how varieties of attention interact with visual learning. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Participants first conducted attentive tracking on trials with repeated motion trajectories for a short session. In a transfer phase we used the same motion trajectories but changed the role of tracking targets and nontargets. We found that compared with novel trials, tracking was enhanced only when the target subset was the same as that used during training. Learning did not transfer when the previously trained targets and nontargets switched roles or mixed up. However, learning was not specific to the trained temporal order as it transferred to trials where the motion was played backwards. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that a demanding task of tracking multiple objects can benefit from learning of repeated motion trajectories. Such learning potentially facilitates tracking in natural vision, although learning is largely confined to the trajectories of attended objects. Furthermore, we showed that learning in attentive tracking relies on relational coding of all target trajectories. Surprisingly, learning was not specific to the trained temporal context, probably because observers have learned motion paths of each trajectory independently of the exact temporal order. Public Library of Science 2008-05-21 /pmc/articles/PMC2375111/ /pubmed/18493599 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002228 Text en Makovski et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Makovski, Tal
Vázquez, Gustavo A.
Jiang, Yuhong V.
Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking
title Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking
title_full Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking
title_fullStr Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking
title_full_unstemmed Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking
title_short Visual Learning in Multiple-Object Tracking
title_sort visual learning in multiple-object tracking
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2375111/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18493599
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002228
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