Perceptual learning induces changes in early and late visual evoked potentials

Abstract

Studies of visual cortical responses following visual perceptual learning (VPL) have produced diverse results, revealing neural changes in early and/or higher-level visual cortex as well as changes in regions responsible for higher cognitive processes such as attentional control. In this study, we investigated substrates of VPL in the human brain by recording visual evoked potentials with high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) before (Session 1) and after (Session 2) training on a texture discrimination task (TDT), with two full nights of sleep between sessions. We studied the following event-related potential (ERP) components: C1 (early sensory processing), P1 and N1 (later sensory processing, modulated by top-down spatial attention), and P3 (cognitive processing). Our results showed a significant decrease in C1 amplitude at Session 2 relative to Session 1 that was positively correlated with the magnitude of improvement in behavioral performance. Although we observed no significant changes in P1 amplitude with VPL, both N1 amplitude and latency were significantly decreased in Session 2. Moreover, the difference in N1 latency between Session 1 and Session 2 was negatively correlated with behavioral improvement. We also found a significant increase in P3 amplitude following training. Our results suggest that VPL of the TDT task may be due to plasticity in early visual cortical areas as well as changes in top-down attentional control and cognitive processing.