Abstract

Associative learning is a basic cognitive function by which discrete and often different percepts are linked together. The Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test investigates a specific kind of associative learning, visually guided equivalence learning. The test consists of an acquisition (pair learning) and a test (rule transfer) phase, which are associated primarily with the function of the basal ganglia and the hippocampi, respectively. Earlier studies described that both fundamentally-involved brain structures in the visual associative learning, the basal ganglia and the hippocampi, receive not only visual but also multisensory information. However, no study has investigated whether there is a priority for multisensory guided equivalence learning compared to unimodal ones. Thus we had no data about the modality-dependence or independence of the equivalence learning. In the present study, we have therefore introduced the auditory- and multisensory (audiovisual)-guided equivalence learning paradigms and investigated the performance of 151 healthy volunteers in the visual as well as in the auditory and multisensory paradigms. Our results indicated that visual, auditory and multisensory guided associative learning is similarly effective in healthy humans, which suggest that the acquisition phase is fairly independent from the modality of the stimuli. On the other hand, in the test phase, where participants were presented with acquisitions that were learned earlier and associations that were until then not seen or heard but predictable, the multisensory stimuli elicited the best performance. The test phase, especially its generalization part, seems to be a harder cognitive task, where the multisensory information processing could improve the performance of the participants.

Highlights

  • Associative learning is a basic cognitive function by which discrete and often different percepts will be linked together

  • Multisensory guided associative learning in healthy humans face paradigm) that can be applied to investigate a specific kind of associative learning, which is visually guided equivalence learning [4]

  • It is well known from earlier studies that both brain structures fundamentally involved in visual associative learning, the basal ganglia and the hippocampi, receive visual and multisensory information [10,11,12,13]

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Summary

Introduction

Associative learning is a basic cognitive function by which discrete and often different percepts will be linked together. Our research group has a particular interest in the sensorimotor and cognitive functions of the basal ganglia and has studied with this paradigm since 2006, mostly to assess the development of visually guided associative learning [6] and to examine the progress in various conditions, from Alzheimer’s disease to migraines [7,8,9] It is well known from earlier studies that both brain structures fundamentally involved in visual associative learning, the basal ganglia and the hippocampi, receive visual and multisensory information [10,11,12,13]. It can occur between two or three different modalities, for example auditory and visual [27, 28], visual and vestibular [29], auditory and tactile [30], or auditory, visual and somatosensory [11, 31, 32]

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