Abstract
BackgroundThere is an accumulating body of evidence indicating that neuronal functional specificity to basic sensory stimulation is mutable and subject to experience. Although fMRI experiments have investigated changes in brain activity after relative to before perceptual learning, brain activity during perceptual learning has not been explored. This work investigated brain activity related to auditory frequency discrimination learning using a variational Bayesian approach for source localization, during simultaneous EEG and fMRI recording. We investigated whether the practice effects are determined solely by activity in stimulus-driven mechanisms or whether high-level attentional mechanisms, which are linked to the perceptual task, control the learning process.ResultsThe results of fMRI analyses revealed significant attention and learning related activity in left and right superior temporal gyrus STG as well as the left inferior frontal gyrus IFG. Current source localization of simultaneously recorded EEG data was estimated using a variational Bayesian method. Analysis of current localized to the left inferior frontal gyrus and the right superior temporal gyrus revealed gamma band activity correlated with behavioral performance.ConclusionsRapid improvement in task performance is accompanied by plastic changes in the sensory cortex as well as superior areas gated by selective attention. Together the fMRI and EEG results suggest that gamma band activity in the right STG and left IFG plays an important role during perceptual learning.
Highlights
There is an accumulating body of evidence indicating that neuronal functional specificity to basic sensory stimulation is mutable and subject to experience
The fact that cortical representations in adult animals can be modified by experience has led to extensive research regarding the neurophysiological mechanisms of cortical plasticity [1,2]
In this study we investigate the extent to which enhanced perceptual discrimination results in greater brain activity in modality specific cortex to the perceptual event and to what extent frontal regions participate in prediction and top-down modulation of auditory selective attention that gives rise to auditory perceptual learning
Summary
Behavioral data Behavioral data acquired during the experiment shows an exponential, quasi-linear and decreasing tendency in perceptual auditory frequency discrimination thresholds (r=0.99, p=0.0041). Our results show stronger hemodynamic responses during the attended condition, Jäncke et al [52] found a decrease of activation during the course of a 1-week training session As they reported, one of the reasons for this contradiction might be due to differences with respect to the duration and type of stimulation. 30 -33 39 statistical results of the attention versus non-attention condition at regions IFG, LSTG and RSTG over activity localized on the cortex as well as at electrodes F7, T7 and T8 for scalp data. As can be seen by comparison with the activity source localized to the surface of the cortex there are differences in the mixed activity recorded at the electrodes and the cortical activity in the brain region underneath the electrode
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