PERCEPTUAL-LEARNING OF ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION BY MORE THAN ONE ATTRIBUTE

Using a perceptual learning paradigm, we evaluated whether information from the attributes: color, luminance and motion is combined to provi de orientation coding, Four observers were trained to discriminate the orientation between color-defined bars, four between luminance-define d bars, and four between motion-defined bars, Before and after trainin g, they were tested with each of the three attributes separately and a ll superimposed, at the same and at a different location as the one se en during training, A similar improvement was found whether the bars s een after training were defined by the same, or by a different attribu te as the one seen during training, or by the three attributes superim posed, This improvement was significantly more substantial at the loca tion where the bars were presented during training, Moreover, orientat ion discrimination was always better when the bars were defined by thr ee attributes than by any one alone, Because the improvement was retin otopic and not restricted to the attribute seen during training, we su ggest that training changed the sensitivity of orientation-selective c ells responsive to color, luminance and motion, Moreover, the overall better performance with additional attributes supported an integration of information from color, luminance, and motion at a common site for orientation coding. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd