Specific expertise from diffuse feedback: A feedforward-gated mechanism
- 1State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
- 2College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
- 3Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China.
Abstract
Perceptual learning improves sensory sensitivity through practice but is typically specific to trained stimuli. Two contrasting accounts have been proposed: fine-tuning of feature-selective neurons in early sensory cortex, which raises a stability-plasticity dilemma, and reweighting of stable sensory inputs by higher-level readout. To reconcile these views, we recorded neuronal populations in macaque visual area V4 during training on a camouflaged collinear contour detection task. Behavioral improvements were strictly orientation specific, yet learning-related neural enhancements were unexpectedly widespread, regardless of neuronal tuning. Critically, these enhancements were confined to late, feedback-influenced response components, whereas early feedforward activity remained stable. These results support a feedforward-gated feedback mechanism: Learning potentiates higher-order representations that deliver diffuse feedback, broadly recruiting early cortical neurons, while behavioral specificity arises because this modulation is gated by feature-selective feedforward inputs associated with the trained stimulus. Rather than being sequestered in a single locus or process, perceptual expertise emerges from hierarchical, bidirectional interactions that enable learning while preserving core sensory stability.
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BibTeX
@article{guo2026specific,
title = {{Specific expertise from diffuse feedback: A feedforward-gated mechanism}},
author = {Ruining Guo and An Yan and Minggui Chen and Wu Li and Yin Yan},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aeh5972},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh5972},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Specific expertise from diffuse feedback: A feedforward-gated mechanism
AU - Ruining Guo
AU - An Yan
AU - Minggui Chen
AU - Wu Li
AU - Yin Yan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aeh5972
UR - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh5972
AB - Perceptual learning improves sensory sensitivity through practice but is typically specific to trained stimuli. Two contrasting accounts have been proposed: fine-tuning of feature-selective neurons in early sensory cortex, which raises a stability-plasticity dilemma, and reweighting of stable sensory inputs by higher-level readout. To reconcile these views, we recorded neuronal populations in macaque visual area V4 during training on a camouflaged collinear contour detection task. Behavioral improvements were strictly orientation specific, yet learning-related neural enhancements were unexpectedly widespread, regardless of neuronal tuning. Critically, these enhancements were confined to late, feedback-influenced response components, whereas early feedforward activity remained stable. These results support a feedforward-gated feedback mechanism: Learning potentiates higher-order representations that deliver diffuse feedback, broadly recruiting early cortical neurons, while behavioral specificity arises because this modulation is gated by feature-selective feedforward inputs associated with the trained stimulus. Rather than being sequestered in a single locus or process, perceptual expertise emerges from hierarchical, bidirectional interactions that enable learning while preserving core sensory stability.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -