Dataset Information

Auditory Discrimination Learning: Role of Working Memory.

ABSTRACT: Perceptual training is generally assumed to improve perception by modifying the encoding or decoding of sensory information. However, this assumption is incompatible with recent demonstrations that transfer of learning can be enhanced by across-trial variation of training stimuli or task. Here we present three lines of evidence from healthy adults in support of the idea that the enhanced transfer of auditory discrimination learning is mediated by working memory (WM). First, the ability to discriminate small differences in tone frequency or duration was correlated with WM measured with a tone n-back task. Second, training frequency discrimination around a variable frequency transferred to and from WM learning, but training around a fixed frequency did not. The transfer of learning in both directions was correlated with a reduction of the influence of stimulus variation in the discrimination task, linking WM and its improvement to across-trial stimulus interaction in auditory discrimination. Third, while WM training transferred broadly to other WM and auditory discrimination tasks, variable-frequency training on duration discrimination did not improve WM, indicating that stimulus variation challenges and trains WM only if the task demands stimulus updating in the varied dimension. The results provide empirical evidence as well as a theoretic framework for interactions between cognitive and sensory plasticity during perceptual experience.

SUBMITTER: Zhang YX

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4723131 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Auditory Discrimination Learning: Role of Working Memory.

Zhang Yu-Xuan YX Moore David R DR Guiraud Jeanne J Molloy Katharine K Yan Ting-Ting TT Amitay Sygal S

PloS one 20160122 1

Perceptual training is generally assumed to improve perception by modifying the encoding or decoding of sensory information. However, this assumption is incompatible with recent demonstrations that transfer of learning can be enhanced by across-trial variation of training stimuli or task. Here we present three lines of evidence from healthy adults in support of the idea that the enhanced transfer of auditory discrimination learning is mediated by working memory (WM). First, the ability to discri ...[more]

PMID: 26799068

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Project description:Despite vast literature on catecholaminergic neuromodulation of auditory cortex functioning in general, knowledge about its role for long-term memory formation is scarce. Our previous pharmacological studies on cortex-dependent frequency-modulated tone-sweep discrimination learning of Mongolian gerbils showed that auditory-cortical D1/5 -dopamine receptor activity facilitates memory consolidation and anterograde memory formation. Considering overlapping functions of D1/5 -dopamine receptors and ?-adrenoceptors, we hypothesised a role of ?-adrenergic signalling in the auditory cortex for sweep discrimination learning and memory. Supporting this hypothesis, the ?1/2 -adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol bilaterally applied to the gerbil auditory cortex after task acquisition prevented the discrimination increment that was normally monitored 1 day later. The increment in the total number of hurdle crossings performed in response to the sweeps per se was normal. Propranolol infusion after the seventh training session suppressed the previously established sweep discrimination. The suppressive effect required antagonist injection in a narrow post-session time window. When applied to the auditory cortex 1 day before initial conditioning, ?1 -adrenoceptor-antagonising and ?1 -adrenoceptor-stimulating agents retarded and facilitated, respectively, sweep discrimination learning, whereas ?2 -selective drugs were ineffective. In contrast, single-sweep detection learning was normal after propranolol infusion. By immunohistochemistry, ?1 - and ?2 -adrenoceptors were identified on the neuropil and somata of pyramidal and non-pyramidal neurons of the gerbil auditory cortex. The present findings suggest that ?-adrenergic signalling in the auditory cortex has task-related importance for discrimination learning of complex sounds: as previously shown for D1/5 -dopamine receptor signalling, ?-adrenoceptor activity supports long-term memory consolidation and reconsolidation; additionally, tonic input through ?1 -adrenoceptors may control mechanisms permissive for memory acquisition.

Project description:Auditory working memory (WM) processing in everyday acoustic environments depends on our ability to maintain relevant information online in our minds, and to suppress interference caused by competing incoming stimuli. A challenge in communication settings is that the relevant content and irrelevant inputs may emanate from a common source, such as a talkative conversationalist. An open question is how the WM system deals with such interference. Will the distracters become inadvertently filtered before processing for meaning because the primary WM operations deplete all available processing resources? Or are they suppressed post perceptually, through an active control process? We tested these alternative hypotheses by measuring magnetoencephalography (MEG), EEG, and functional MRI (fMRI) during a phonetic auditory continuous performance task. Contextual WM maintenance load was manipulated by adjusting the number of "filler" letter sounds in-between cue and target letter sounds. Trial-to-trial variability of pre- and post-stimulus activations in fMRI-informed cortical MEG/EEG estimates was analyzed within and across 14 subjects using generalized linear mixed effect (GLME) models. High contextual WM maintenance load suppressed left auditory cortex (AC) activations around 250-300 ms after the onset of irrelevant phonetic sounds. This effect coincided with increased 10-14 Hz alpha-range oscillatory functional connectivity between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and left AC. Suppression of AC responses to irrelevant sounds during active maintenance of the task context also correlated with increased pre-stimulus 7-15 Hz alpha power. Our results suggest that under high auditory WM load, irrelevant sounds are suppressed through a "late" active suppression mechanism, which prevents short-term consolidation of irrelevant information without affecting the initial screening of potentially meaningful stimuli. The results also suggest that AC alpha oscillations play an inhibitory role during auditory WM processing.

Dataset Information

Auditory Discrimination Learning: Role of Working Memory.

Publications

Auditory Discrimination Learning: Role of Working Memory.

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