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Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning

Human perceptual learning, experience-induced gains in sensory discrimination, typically yields long-term performance improvements. Recent research revealed long-lasting transfer at the untrained location enabled by feature-based attention (FBA), reminiscent of its global effect (Hung & Carrasco...

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Autores principales: Hung, Shao-Chin, Carrasco, Marisa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9342836/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35915381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02151-8
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author Hung, Shao-Chin
Carrasco, Marisa
author_facet Hung, Shao-Chin
Carrasco, Marisa
author_sort Hung, Shao-Chin
collection PubMed
description Human perceptual learning, experience-induced gains in sensory discrimination, typically yields long-term performance improvements. Recent research revealed long-lasting transfer at the untrained location enabled by feature-based attention (FBA), reminiscent of its global effect (Hung & Carrasco, Scientific Reports, 11(1), 13914, (2021)). Visual Perceptual Learning (VPL) is typically studied while observers maintain fixation, but the role of fixational eye movements is unknown. Microsaccades – the largest of fixational eye movements – provide a continuous, online, physiological measure from the oculomotor system that reveals dynamic processing, which is unavailable from behavioral measures alone. We investigated whether and how microsaccades change after training in an orientation discrimination task. For human observers trained with or without FBA, microsaccade rates were significantly reduced during the response window in both trained and untrained locations and orientations. Critically, consistent with long-term training benefits, this microsaccade-rate reduction persisted over a year. Furthermore, microsaccades were biased toward the target location prior to stimulus onset and were more suppressed for incorrect than correct trials after observers’ responses. These findings reveal that fixational eye movements and VPL are tightly coupled and that learning-induced microsaccade changes are long lasting. Thus, microsaccades reflect functional dynamics of the oculomotor system during information encoding, maintenance and readout, and may serve as a reliable long-term physiological correlate in VPL. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13423-022-02151-8.
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spelling pubmed-93428362022-08-02 Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning Hung, Shao-Chin Carrasco, Marisa Psychon Bull Rev Brief Report Human perceptual learning, experience-induced gains in sensory discrimination, typically yields long-term performance improvements. Recent research revealed long-lasting transfer at the untrained location enabled by feature-based attention (FBA), reminiscent of its global effect (Hung & Carrasco, Scientific Reports, 11(1), 13914, (2021)). Visual Perceptual Learning (VPL) is typically studied while observers maintain fixation, but the role of fixational eye movements is unknown. Microsaccades – the largest of fixational eye movements – provide a continuous, online, physiological measure from the oculomotor system that reveals dynamic processing, which is unavailable from behavioral measures alone. We investigated whether and how microsaccades change after training in an orientation discrimination task. For human observers trained with or without FBA, microsaccade rates were significantly reduced during the response window in both trained and untrained locations and orientations. Critically, consistent with long-term training benefits, this microsaccade-rate reduction persisted over a year. Furthermore, microsaccades were biased toward the target location prior to stimulus onset and were more suppressed for incorrect than correct trials after observers’ responses. These findings reveal that fixational eye movements and VPL are tightly coupled and that learning-induced microsaccade changes are long lasting. Thus, microsaccades reflect functional dynamics of the oculomotor system during information encoding, maintenance and readout, and may serve as a reliable long-term physiological correlate in VPL. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13423-022-02151-8. Springer US 2022-08-01 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC9342836/ /pubmed/35915381 http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02151-8 Text en © The Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2022 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Brief Report
Hung, Shao-Chin
Carrasco, Marisa
Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning
title Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning
title_full Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning
title_fullStr Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning
title_full_unstemmed Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning
title_short Microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning
title_sort microsaccades as a long-term oculomotor correlate in visual perceptual learning
topic Brief Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9342836/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35915381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02151-8
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