Navigation Links
Using brain scans, researchers find evidence for a two-stage model of human perceptual learning

Using advanced brain imaging techniques, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have watched how humans use both lower and higher brain processes to learn novel tasks, an advance they say may help speed up the teaching of new skills as well as offer strategies to retrain people with perceptual deficits due to autism.

In the March 15 issue of Neuron, the research team provides the first human evidence for a two-stage model of how a person learns to place objects into categories ?discerning, for example, that a green apple, and not a green tennis ball, belongs to "food." They describe it as a complex interplay between neurons that process stimulus shape ("bottom-up") and more sophisticated brain areas that discriminate between these shapes to categorize and "label" that information ("top-down").

A human can't function without the ability to sort between objects and organize them in fluid ways, said the study's lead author, Maximilian Riesenhuber, Ph.D., the principal investigator for the Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience. "We make sense of the world by learning to recognize objects as members of categories such as 'food,' 'friend,' or 'foe,' but it has not been clear how the human brain does this," he said.

The researchers theorized that a very simple yet efficient way of doing this kind of learning would be for the brain to first learn how objects vary in shape, and then, in a second stage, to learn which shapes go with which labels, allowing the brain to sort an object into different labeled "bins" when necessary. For example, a green apple and a green tennis ball are both green and round, but only an apple can be eaten and only a green tennis ball belongs to a sport.

In this study, the research team asked human volunteers to undertake a series of tasks presented to them on a computer screen. All of them involved cars that were generated with a computer graphics morphing system, allowing
'"/>

Source:Georgetown University Medical Center


Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Research Using Mouse Models Reveals A Novel Key Player In The Initiation Of Colon Cancer
2. Rush Physicians Using Gene Therapy For Heart Patients With Moderate To Severe Chest Pains Who Do Not Benefit From Other Treatments
3. Researchers Closer To Helping Hearing-Impaired Using Stem Cells
4. Using nanoparticles, in vivo gene therapy activates brain stem cells
5. Using computers and DNA to count bacteria
6. Using the genomic shortcut to predict bacterial behavior
7. Using natures most primitive anti-viral defense system to find new approaches to cancer research
8. Using dental X-rays to detect osteoporosis
9. Using nanomagnets to enhance medical imaging
10. Controversial drug shown to act on brain protein to cut alcohol use
11. Mouse brain cells rapidly recover after Alzheimers plaques are cleared
Post Your Comments:
(Date:5/22/2008)...Minnesotas Bell Museum of Natural History and Penn...ew family of gecko, the charismatic large-eyed liz...Scientists have long been interested in geckos and... indicators and are found on nearly every continen...cause of the animals sticky toe pads, which allow ...
(Date:5/22/2008)...cause premature ovarian failure in at least a perc... researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Ho... that appears online today in the American Journal...tion from this study and others that identify gene...in blood that can help us determine a womans risk ...
(Date:5/22/2008)...role in seagrass fields. Dutch researcher Arie Von...ndonesia. He discovered that the interaction betwe...in an efficient nitrogen cycle in tropical seagras...rasses is still retained. , Seagrass fields are...oastal stability and fish populations. The collect...
(Date:5/21/2008)...emical Industrys Journal of the Science of Food an... as synthetic insecticides to combat infestation b... stored cereals. , Not only does oregano oil wor... the associated side effects of synthetic insectic...o synthetic insecticides combined with potential e...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Oocyte-specific gene mutations cause premature ovarian failure 2Nitrogen retained through loss 2InterCure and High Tech Health Announce RESPeRATE Launch into Pharmacy Market in Australia 2469 1InterCure and High Tech Health Announce RESPeRATE Launch into Pharmacy Market in Australia 2469 2InterCure and High Tech Health Announce RESPeRATE Launch into Pharmacy Market in Australia 2469 3InterCure and High Tech Health Announce RESPeRATE Launch into Pharmacy Market in Australia 2469 4UT Southwestern scientist receives NIH Directors New Innovator Award 2466 1UT Southwestern scientist receives NIH Directors New Innovator Award 2466 2In Celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Susan G Komen for the Cure San Diego Announces Opportunities for San Diegans to Get Involved in the 2462 1In Celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Susan G Komen for the Cure San Diego Announces Opportunities for San Diegans to Get Involved in the 2462 2In Celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Susan G Komen for the Cure San Diego Announces Opportunities for San Diegans to Get Involved in the 2462 3Childrens Experts Warn 3A Dont Ignore Kids On National Depression Screening Day October 11 2457 1Childrens Experts Warn 3A Dont Ignore Kids On National Depression Screening Day October 11 2457 2Childrens Experts Warn 3A Dont Ignore Kids On National Depression Screening Day October 11 2457 3Childrens Experts Warn 3A Dont Ignore Kids On National Depression Screening Day October 11 2457 4Childrens Experts Warn 3A Dont Ignore Kids On National Depression Screening Day October 11 2457 5
...the Hebrew University of,Jerusalem have succeeded ...e poplar tree with special structural and qualitat...or development of future,nanocapsules for drug del...ed from plant tissue, the protein can now,also be ...ein in,bacteria, making it highly available for me...
...s harness the energy of ATP (or GTP, a related ene...ce. Well-known examples of motors include myosin a...lular cargo along fibers made of actin or tubulin ...ubulin fibers itself can work as a motor: for inst...ens is powered by the growth of actin filaments pu...
...ohns Hopkins scientists has,found the first clear ...system,s remarkable ability to recognize and respo...inated from a family of genes whose,only apparent ...Jumping genes" ,essentially cut themselves out of ...d that this ability might have been borrowed by ce...
...uitment has begun for a trial to investigate the s...he National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di... Health (NIH), announced today. , Sites in Rochest...tal of 450 healthy adults. The clinical sites are ...Evaluation Units (VTEU). , “While there have been...
Other Biology News:New protein discovered by Hebrew University researchers 2DNA Recombination and Repair—A New Twist to RecA Function 2New therapy for HIV/AIDS eliminates needles and excessive toxicity 2New therapy for HIV/AIDS eliminates needles and excessive toxicity 3NIAID Initiates Trial of Experimental Avian Flu Vaccine 2
(Date:5/22/2008)...May 22 /- AstraZeneca (NYSE...d Physician Payment,Sunshine Act as part of the co...e information about the way it does business., Sp... Kohl of Wisconsin,the legislation would create a...cal companies, device manufacturers and medical su...
(Date:5/22/2008)... 22 /- Martek Biosciences,C...nds to release the results,of its second quarter o...00,p.m. Eastern Time (ET). Following the release, ...all to discuss the results of its second quarter o...es may listen to the call,live via webcast by visi...
(Date:5/22/2008)...esident, CEO, and Chairman recaps recent investor ...RICK, Md., May 22 /- Andrew...ration (Pink Sheets: BIEL), the,developer of ActiP...patch,with an embedded battery operated microchip ...y issued the following summary of its recent,inves...
(Date:5/22/2008)...on System Technology Detects Extravasations during... WARRENDALE, Pa., May 22 /- MEDRAD, I...n Detector has received a 2008 Medical Design,Exce...gy that aids in the,detection of leaking intraveno...rounding tissue during computed tomography (CT) di...
Breaking Biology Technology:AstraZeneca Supports Transparency Legislation on Payments to Health Care Providers 2BioElectronics Corporation - Substantial International Expansion Producing Sustained Revenue Growth-Company Reaches Monthly Break Even 2BioElectronics Corporation - Substantial International Expansion Producing Sustained Revenue Growth-Company Reaches Monthly Break Even 3BioElectronics Corporation - Substantial International Expansion Producing Sustained Revenue Growth-Company Reaches Monthly Break Even 4BioElectronics Corporation - Substantial International Expansion Producing Sustained Revenue Growth-Company Reaches Monthly Break Even 5BioElectronics Corporation - Substantial International Expansion Producing Sustained Revenue Growth-Company Reaches Monthly Break Even 6BioElectronics Corporation - Substantial International Expansion Producing Sustained Revenue Growth-Company Reaches Monthly Break Even 7BioElectronics Corporation - Substantial International Expansion Producing Sustained Revenue Growth-Company Reaches Monthly Break Even 8MEDRAD(R) XDS(TM) Extravasation Detector Wins Medical Design Excellence Award 2MEDRAD(R) XDS(TM) Extravasation Detector Wins Medical Design Excellence Award 3
...UKEE -- Johnson Controls, Inc. is introducing a...xclusively available through the company,s Authori...,The Facility Explorer system is a hardware and so...l to a wide variety of buildings, whether large or...ation from anywhere in the system, the company sai...
...ale, Wis. -- Johnson Controls Inc. has created an...ry at its global headquarters here to create advan...d-electric vehicles (HEVs), the company announced ...terest in hybrid vehicles that are powered by batt...e lead in hybrid vehicle development, Japanese ele...
...on, Wis. -- The state Senate voted 21-12 on Wedne...orms of cloning in Wisconsin, though it is likely ...l was supported by all Republicans and two Democra...oger Breske, D-Eland. , ,The bill, AB 499, would o...ut also what proponents call therapeutic or resear...
...on, Wis. -- Third Wave Technologies Inc. , a dev...NA and RNA analysis applications, is being sued by...infringement of its hepatitis C virus patents. Mea...uling against a California company over disputed p...ic and therapeutic products, with a focus on infec...
Other Biology Technology:Johnson Controls jumping further into hybrid-vehicle battery world 2Johnson Controls jumping further into hybrid-vehicle battery world 3Wisconsin Senate votes to outlaw cloning; measure still faces veto 2Wisconsin Senate votes to outlaw cloning; measure still faces veto 3Third Wave sued by one firm; gets injunction against another 2
Mouse polyclonal antibody raised against a partial recombinant SLC22A3. Immunogen: SLC22A3 (NP_068812, 90 a.a. ~ 156 a.a) partial recombinant protein with GST tag. Accession Number: NM_021977
Propidium Iodide from Calbiochem
...NC™ Deletion Cosmid Cloning Kit enables you ...ased primary cosmid library of genomic DNA for sub.... High efficiency cosmid library construction is a... protocols. First, genomic DNA is randomly sheared...
Mouse monoclonal antibody raised against a partial recombinant AATK. NCBI Entrez Gene ID = AATK
Biology Products: