American Physiological SocietyActa Medica Okayama0022-307712752022Tactile angle discriminability improvement: contributions of working memory training and continuous attended sensory input13981406ENWuWangSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking UniversityJiajiaYangGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityYinghuaYuGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityHuazhiLiGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityYulongLiuGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityYiyangYuGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityJiabinYuCollege of Information Engineering, China Jiliang UniversityXiaoyuTangSchool of Psychology, Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center of Children and Adolescents Healthy Personality Assessment and Cultivation, Liaoning Normal UniversityJingjingYangSchool of Computer Science and Technology, Changchun University of Science and TechnologySatoshiTakahashiGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityYoshimichiEjimaGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityJinglongWuGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityPerceptual learning is commonly assumed to enhance perception through continuous attended sensory input. However, learning is generalizable to performance in untrained stimuli and tasks. Although previous studies have observed a possible generalization effect across tasks as a result of working memory (WM) training, comparisons of the contributions of WM training and continuous attended sensory input to perceptual learning generalization are still rare. Therefore, we compared which factors contributed most to perceptual generalization and investigated which skills acquired during WM training led to tactile generalization across tasks. Here, a Braille-like dot pattern matching n-back WM task was used as the WM training task, with four workload levels (0, 1, 2, and 3-back levels). A tactile angle discrimination (TAD) task was used as a pre- and posttest to assess improvements in tactile perception. Between tests, four subject groups were randomly assigned to four different workload n-back tasks to consecutively complete three sessions of training. The results showed that tactile n-back WM training could enhance TAD performance, with the 3-back training group having the highest TAD threshold improvement rate. Furthermore, the rate of WM capacity improvement on the 3-back level across training sessions was correlated with the rate of TAD threshold improvement. These findings suggest that continuous attended sensory input and enhanced WM capacity can lead to improvements in TAD ability, and that greater improvements in WM capacity can predict greater improvements in TAD performance.<br>
NEW & NOTEWORTHY Perceptual learning is not always specific to the trained task and stimuli. We demonstrate that both continuous attended sensory input and improved WM capacity can be used to enhance tactile angle discrimination (TAD) ability. Moreover, WM capacity improvement is important in generalizing the training effect to the TAD ability. These findings contribute to understanding the mechanism of perceptual learning generalization across tasks.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.American Physiological SocietyActa Medica Okayama0022-307712252019Tactile angle discriminability improvement: roles of training time intervals and different types of training tasks19181927ENWuWangGraduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityJiajiaYangGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, OkayamaQiongWuGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityJiabinYu Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversitySatoshiTakahashiGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityYoshimichiEjimaGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityJinglongWuGraduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama UniversityPerceptual learning, which is not limited to sensory modalities such as vision and touch, emerges within a training session and between training sessions and is accompanied by the remodeling of neural connections in the cortex. However, limited knowledge exists regarding perceptual learning between training sessions. Although tactile studies have paid attention to between-session learning effects, there have been few studies asking fundamental questions regarding whether the time interval between training sessions affects tactile perceptual learning and generalization across tactile tasks. We investigated the effects of different training time intervals on the consecutive performance of a tactile angle discrimination (AD) task and a tactile orientation discrimination (OD) task training on tactile angle discriminability. The results indicated that in the short-interval training group, AD task performance significantly improved in the early stage of learning and nearly plateaued in the later stage, whereas in the long-interval training group, significant improvement was delayed and then also nearly plateaued in the later stage; additionally, improved OD task performance resulted in improved AD task performance. These findings suggest that training time interval affects the early stage of learning but not the later stage and that generalization occurs between different types of tactile tasks.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.