Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
J Neurosci. 2010 Jul 7;30(27):9181-8. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0403-10.2010.
Perceptual priming is a type of item-specific implicit memory that is distinct from explicit memory. Neural signals of the processing responsible for perceptual priming can be difficult to isolate due to concurrent conceptual processing and explicit recognition. We successfully identified neural correlates of perceptual priming by using minimally meaningful, difficult-to-recognize, kaleidoscope images. Human participants were required to quickly indicate the number of colors present in each stimulus, and priming was shown by faster and more accurate visual discriminations for repeated compared with initial presentations. Electroencephalographic responses linked with this differential perceptual fluency were identified as negative potentials 100-300 ms poststimulus onset. Furthermore, different potentials recorded during initial presentations were indicative of perceptual learning, in that their amplitude predicted the magnitude of later priming. These electrophysiological findings show that the degree of perceptual learning engaged upon first encountering a novel visual stimulus predicts the degree of perceptual fluency experienced when the stimulus is processed a second time. It is thus possible to isolate multiple neural processing stages relevant to perceptual priming by using real-time measures of relevant neurophysiological activity in conjunction with experimental circumstances that limit the contaminating influences of other neurocognitive events.
知觉启动是一种特定于项目的内隐记忆，与外显记忆不同。由于概念处理和外显识别的同时存在，负责知觉启动的处理的神经信号很难被隔离。我们通过使用最小意义、难以识别的万花筒图像成功地识别了知觉启动的神经相关物。人类参与者被要求快速指出每个刺激中存在的颜色数量，并且与初始呈现相比，重复呈现时的视觉辨别更快、更准确，表明存在启动。与这种差异知觉流畅性相关的脑电图反应被确定为刺激后 100-300 毫秒的负电位。此外，在初始呈现期间记录的不同电位表明了知觉学习，因为它们的振幅预测了后期启动的程度。这些电生理发现表明，在第一次遇到新的视觉刺激时所进行的知觉学习程度，预测了第二次处理该刺激时所经历的知觉流畅性程度。因此，通过使用实时测量相关神经生理活动以及限制其他神经认知事件干扰的实验条件，有可能分离与知觉启动相关的多个神经处理阶段。
