Abstract
Previous research examining the acquisition of perceptual expertise has shown that subordinate-level training increases the amplitude of event-related potentials (ERPs) measured from the occipital-temporal regions during matching tasks involving cars and birds (Scott et al., 2006; 2008). Here, we examined whether training with artificial objects similarly impacts ERP components, whether ERP responses predicted behavioral responses (RT, accuracy (d')), and whether manipulations of color and spatial frequency impacted these measures. 22 adults participated in perceptual expertise training with two "families" of objects trained at the basic (Family A) or subordinate level (Family S). Each family included 10 unique species (labeled "A" through "J") each containing 12 exemplars. Before and after training, participants completed a serial same/different discrimination task with trained and untrained exemplars of trained species while ERPs were recorded. Images presented during the discrimination task were color, greyscale, high spatial frequency (HSF; > 8 cycles per image (cpi)), or low spatial frequency (LSF; < 8 cpi). Posttest N170 amplitude was significantly greater for subordinate-trained objects relative to basic-trained objects and was also greater in response to low and high spatial frequency images relative to color and greyscale images. Latency analyses revealed a significantly later peaking N170 in response to low-spatial frequency images relative to all other conditions. At posttest, N170 latencies measured from left-occipital electrodes predicted reaction time such that as N170 latency increased, RT increased for subordinate trained and untrained color exemplars. No significant correlations were present after basic-level training or for the image manipulations. In addition, no significant correlations were present for N170 amplitude or for the right hemisphere. Results extend previous reports and further add that subordinate-level training with novel objects differentially effects neural processing for the N170 ERP component. Further, the present results provide evidence of a significant brain-behavior correlation in response to subordinate-level training.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2017