RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Category learning biases sensory representations in human visual cortex
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 170845
DO 10.1101/170845
A1 Edward F. Ester
A1 Thomas C. Sprague
A1 John T. Serences
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/01/170845.1.abstract
AB Category learning distorts perceptual space by enhancing the discriminability of physically similar yet categorically distinct exemplars. These distortions could in part reflect changes in how sensory neural populations selective for category-defining features encode information. Here, we tested this possibility by using fMRI and EEG to quantify the feature-selective information content of signals measured in early visual cortical areas after participants learned to classify a set of oriented stimuli into discrete categories. Reconstructed representations of orientation in early visual areas were systematically biased by category membership. These biases were strongest for orientations near the category boundary where they would be most beneficial, predicted category discrimination performance, and emerged rapidly after stimulus onset, suggesting that category learning can produce significant changes in how neural populations in early visual areas respond to incoming sensory signals.