Abstract
The brain utilizes distinct neural mechanisms that ease the transition through different stages of learning. Furthermore, evidence from category learning has shown that dissociable memory systems are engaged, depending on the structure of a task. This can even hold true for tasks that are very similar to each other, which complicates the process of classifying brain activity as relating to changes that are associated with learning or reflecting the engagement of a memory system suited for the task. The primary goals of these studies were to characterize the mechanisms that are associated with category learning and understand the extent to which different memory systems are recruited within a single task. Two studies providing spatial and temporal distinctions between learning-related changes in the brain and category-dependent memory systems are presented. The results from these experiments support the notion that exemplar memorization, rule-based, and perceptual similarity-based categorization are flexibly recruited in order to optimize performance during a single task. We conclude that these three methods, along with the memory systems they rely on, aid in the development of expertise, but their engagement might depend on the level of familiarity with a category.
Highlights
Category learning has been a productive paradigm for studying learning and memory and it refers to the development of the ability to group objects belonging to the same category and differentiate objects belonging to different categories [1]
We know that different tasks engage dissociable memory systems that are optimized for the type of learning involved—even for seemingly similar tasks, such as in categorization [3,4,5,6,7]
A common feature of category learning studies is that they use tasks that are designed to recruit these systems and strategies one at a time
Summary
Category learning has been a productive paradigm for studying learning and memory and it refers to the development of the ability to group objects belonging to the same category and differentiate objects belonging to different categories [1]. We know that different tasks engage dissociable memory systems that are optimized for the type of learning involved—even for seemingly similar tasks, such as in categorization [3,4,5,6,7]. This makes it difficult to uniquely attribute the changes in brain activity to either distinct learning systems or representations of the distinct mechanisms that are associated with different task sets. The two bodies of literature can complicate comparing brain activity across tasks as subjects between those tasks could either be at different stages of learning or be relying on different categorization strategies that are served by dissociable memory systems
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