Auditory learning: Uncorking performance bottlenecks
Abstract
Internal noise is ubiquitous to information processing systems in the brain. It can originate in low-level, sensory systems (e.g., stochastic neural firing) or high-level cognitive functions (e.g., fluctuations in attention). Added to inefficiencies associated with the decision making process, it compromises our ability to make perceptual judgements even under ideal conditions (i.e., in the absence of external noise). We present evidence herein that performance-limiting internal noise and inefficiency of various origins can be reduced through training, resulting in improved behavioural performance. We promote the view that reducing or even removing these limiting processes is what defines perceptual learning, and that transfer of learning to untrained tasks critically depends on those tasks having a limiting process in common with the trained task. We present implications of this view for our understanding of perceptual learning during development and in atypical populations, as well as to the more practical aspects of designing perceptual and cognitive training programmes that will demonstrate benefits beyond the training tasks themselves.
References
Amitay, S., Hawkey, D.J.C., and Moore, D.R. (2005). “Auditory frequency discrimination learning is affected by stimulus variability,” Percept. Psychophys., 67, 691-698.
Amitay, S., Zhang, Y.-X., and Moore, D.R. (2012). “Asymmetric transfer of auditory perceptual learning,” Front. Psychol., 3, 508.
Amitay, S., Guiraud, J., Sohoglu, E., Zobay, O., Edmonds, B.A., Zhang, Y.X., and Moore, D.R. (2013). “Human decision making based on variations in internal noise: an EEG study,” PLoS ONE, 8, e68928.
Banai, K., and Ahissar, M. (2009). “Perceptual learning as a tool for boosting working memory among individuals with reading and learning disability,” Learn. Percept., 1, 115-134.
Banai, K., and Amitay, S. (2012). “Stimulus uncertainty in auditory perceptual learning,” Vision Res., 61, 83-88.
Bishop, D.V.M., Anderson, M., Reid, C., and Fox, A.M. (2011). “Auditory development between 7 and 11 years: An event-related potential (ERP) study,” PLoS ONE, 6, e18993.
Braida, L.D., Lim, J.S., Berliner, J.E., Durlach, N.I., Rabinowitz, W.M., and Purks, S.R. (1984). “Intensity perception. XIII. Perceptual anchor model of context-coding,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 76, 722-731.
Buss, E., Hall, J.W., III, and Grose, J.H. (2006). “Development and the role of internal noise in detection and discrimination thresholds with narrow band stimuli,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 120, 2777-2788.
Dosher, B.A., and Lu, Z.L. (2005). “Perceptual learning in clear displays optimizes perceptual expertise: Learning the limiting process,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 102, 5286-5290.
Fox, M.D., Snyder, A.Z., Zacks, J.M., and Raichle, M.E. (2006). “Coherent spontaneous activity accounts for trial-to-trial variability in human evoked brain responses,” Nat. Neurosci., 9, 23-25.
Fox, M.D., Snyder, A.Z., Vincent, J.L., and Raichle, M.E. (2007). “Intrinsic fluctuations within cortical systems account for intertrial variability in human behavior,” Neuron, 56, 171-184.
Green, C.S., and Bavelier, D. (2003). “Action video game modifies visual selective attention,” Nature, 423, 534-537.
Green, D.M., and Swets, J.A. (1966). Signal Detection Theory and Psychophysics (John Wiley & Sons, New York).
Halliday, L.F., Taylor, J.L., Edmondson-Jones, A.M., and Moore, D.R. (2008). “Frequency discrimination learning in children,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 123, 4393-4402.
Halliday, L.F., Moore, D.R., Taylor, J.L., and Amitay, S. (2011). “Dimension-specific attention directs learning and listening on auditory training tasks,” Atten. Percept. Psycho., 73, 1329-1335.
Javel, E., and Viemeister, N.F. (2000). “Stochastic properties of cat auditory nerve responses to electric and acoustic stimuli and application to intensity discrimination,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 107, 908-921.
Jeter, P.E., Dosher, B.A., Liu, S.H., and Lu, Z.L. (2010). “Specificity of perceptual learning increases with increased training,” Vision Res., 50, 1928-1940.
Jones, P.R., Moore, D.R., and Amitay, S. (2012). “The role of response bias when learning a forced-choice task,” Proceedings of the British Society of Audiology (BSA) Annual Conference, Nottingham, United
Kingdom.
Jones, P.R., Shub, D.E., Moore, D.R., and Amitay, S. (2013). “Reduction of internal noise in auditory perceptual learning,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 133, 970-981.
Li, R., Polat, U., Makous, W., and Bavelier, D. (2009). “Enhancing the contrast sensitivity function through action video game training,” Nat. Neurosci., 12, 549-551.
Macmillan, N.A., and Creelman, C.D. (2005). Detection Theory: A User's Guide (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., Mahwah, New Jersey).
Maddox, W.T., and Bohil, C.J. (2001). “Feedback effects on cost-benefit learning in perceptual categorization,” Mem. Cognit., 29, 598-615.
Moore, B.C.J. (1973). “Frequency difference limens for short-duration tones,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 54, 610-619.
Moore, D.R. (2002). “Auditory development and the role of experience,” Br. Med. Bull., 63, 171-181.
Moore, D.R. (2012). “Listening difficulties in children: Bottom-up and top-down contributions,” J. Comm. Disord., 45, 411-418.
Moore, J.K., and Linthicum, F.H., Jr. (2007). “The human auditory system: A timeline of development,” Int. J. Audiol., 46, 460-478.
Ratcliffe, N., Jones, P.R., Moore, D.R., and Amitay, S. (2012). “The role of response bias when learning a yes/no task,” Proceedings of the British Society of Audiology (BSA) Annual Conference, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Stevens, C., Fanning, J., Coch, D., Sanders, L., and Neville, H. (2008). “Neural mechanisms of selective auditory attention are enhanced by computerized training: Electrophysiological evidence from language-impaired and typically developing children,” Brain Res., 1205, 55-69.
Tallal, P., Miller, S.L., Bedi, G., Byma, G., Wang, X., Nagarajan, S.S., Schreiner, C., Jenkins, W.M., and Merzenich, M.M. (1996). “Language comprehension in language-learning impaired children improved with acoustically modified speech,” Science, 271, 81-84.
Tanner, T.A., Haller, R.W., and Atkinson, R.C. (1967). “Signal recognition as influenced by presentation schedules,” Percept. Psychophys., 2, 349-358.
Vogels, R., Spileers, W., and Orban, G.A. (1989). “The response variability of striate cortical neurons in the behaving monkey,” Exp. Brain. Res., 77, 432-436.
Wright, B.A., Wilson, R.M., and Sabin, A.T. (2010). “Generalization lags behind learning on an auditory perceptual task,” J. Neurosci., 30, 11635-11639.
Zhang, Y.-X., Moore, D.R., Molloy, K., and Amitay, S. (2012). “Bidirectional trans-fer of working memory and perceptual learning,” Proceedings of the British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN), Newcastle, United Kingdom.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain copyright* and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
*From the 2017 issue onward. The Danavox Jubilee Foundation owns the copyright of all articles published in the 1969-2015 issues. However, authors are still allowed to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.