Garber D., & Fiser J. (2024) Structure transfer and consolidation in visual implicit learning. (preprint, bioRxiv)
Transfer learning, the re-application of previously learned higher-level regularities to novel input, is a key challenge in cognition. While previous empirical studies investigated human transfer learning in supervised or reinforcement learning for explicit knowledge, it is unknown whether such transfer occurs during naturally more common implicit and unsupervised learning and if so, how it is […]
Jellinek, S. & Fiser, J. (2024) Neural correlates tracking different aspects of the emerging representation of novel visual categories. Cerebral Cortex, 2024 (1), pp. bhad544
Current studies investigating electroencephalogram correlates associated with categorization of sensory stimuli (P300 event-related potential, alpha event-related desynchronization, theta event-related synchronization) typically use an oddball paradigm with few, familiar, highly distinct stimuli providing limited insight about the aspects of categorization (e.g., difficulty, membership, uncertainty) that the correlates are linked to. Using a more complex task, we […]
Seitz, A. R., Sekuler, A., Dosher, B., Wright, B. A., Huang, C.-B., Green, C. S., Pack, C. C., Sagi, D., Levi, D., Tadin, D., Quinlan, E., Jiang, F., Diaz, G. J., Ghose, G., Fiser, J., Banai, K., Visscher, K., Huxlin, K., Shams, L., Battelli, L., Carrasco, M., Herzog, M., Webster, M., Eckstein, M., Turk-Browne, N. B., Censor, N., De Weerd, P., Vogels, R., Hochstein, S., Watanabe, T., Sasaki, Y., Polat, U., Lu, Z.-L., Kourtzi, Z. (2023). Perceptual Learning: Policy Insights From Basic Research to Real-World Applications. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 10(2), pp. 324-332. SAGE Publications.
Perceptual learning is the process by which experience alters how incoming sensory information is processed by the brain to give rise to behavior—it is critical for how humans educate children, train experts, treat diseases, and promote health and well-being throughout the lifespan. Knowledge of perceptual learning requires basic and applied research in humans and nonhuman […]
Arató, J., Rothkopf, C. A., & Fiser, J. (2024). Eye movements reflect active statistical learning. Journal of Vision, 24(5):17, 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.24.5.17.
What is the link between eye movements and sensory learning? Although some theories have argued for an automatic interaction between what we know and where we look that continuously modulates human information gathering behavior during both implicit and explicit learning, there exists limited experimental evidence supporting such an ongoing interplay. To address this issue, we […]
Rosa-Salva O., Fiser J., Versace E., Dolci C., Chehaimi S., Santolin C. & Vallortigara G. (2018) Spontaneous learning of visual structures in domestic chicks. Animals 8 (8), 135
Effective communication crucially depends on the ability to produce and recognize structured signals, as apparent in language and birdsong. Although it is not clear to what extent similar syntactic-like abilities can be identified in other animals, recently we reported that domesticchicks can learn abstract visual patterns and the statistical structure defined by a temporal sequence […]
Fiser J. (2009) Perceptual learning and representational learning in humans and animals. Learning & behavior 37 (2), 141-153
Traditionally, perceptual learning in humans and classical conditioning in animals have been considered as two very different research areas, with separate problems, paradigms, and explanations. However, a number of themes common to these fields of research emerge when they are approached from the more general concept of representational learning. To demonstrate this, I present results […]
Atkins JE., Fiser J. & Jacobs RA. (2001) Experience-dependent visual cue integration based on consistencies between visual and haptic percepts. Vision research 41 (4), 449-461
We study the hypothesis that observers can use haptic percepts as a standard against which the relative reliabilities of visual cues can be judged, and that these reliabilities determine how observers combine depth information provided by these cues. Using a novel visuo-haptic virtual reality environment, subjects viewed and grasped virtual objects. In Experiment 1, subjects […]
Roy A., Christie IK., Escobar GM., Osik JJ., Popovic M., Ritter NJ., Stacy AK., Wang S., Fiser J., Miller P. & Van Hooser SD. (2018) Does experience provide a permissive or instructive influence on the development of direction selectivity in visual cortex? Neural development 13 (1), 16
In principle, the development of sensory receptive fields in cortex could arise from experience-independent mechanisms that have been acquired through evolution, or through an online analysis of the sensory experience of the individual animal. Here we review recent experiments that suggest that the development of direction selectivity in carnivore visual cortex requires experience, but also […]
Fiser J. (2009) The other kind of perceptual learning. Learning & Perception 1 (1), 69-87
In the present review we discuss an extension of classical perceptual learning called the observational learning paradigm. We propose that studying the process how humans develop internal representation of their environment requires modifications of the original perceptual learning paradigm which lead to observational learning. We relate observational learning to other types of learning, mention some […]
Mel BW. & Fiser J. (2000) Minimizing binding errors using learned conjunctive features. Neural Computation 12 (4), 731-762
We have studied some of the design trade-offs governing visual representations based on spatially invariant conjunctive feature detectors, with an emphasis on the susceptibility of such systems to false-positive recognition errors — Malsburg’s classical binding problem. We begin by deriving an analytical model that makes explicit how recognition performance is affected by the number of […]