Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2012 Dec;224(3):451-7. doi: 10.1007/s00213-012-2769-y. Epub 2012 Jun 17.
Perceptual learning operates on distinct timescales. How different neuromodulatory systems impact on learning across these different timescales is poorly understood.
Here, we test the causal impact of a novel influence on perceptual learning, the androgen hormone testosterone, across distinct timescales.
In a double-blind, placebo- controlled, cross-over study with testosterone, subjects undertook a simple contrast detection task during training sessions on two separate days.
On placebo, there was no learning either within training sessions or between days, except for a fast, rapidly saturating, improvement early on each testing day. However, testosterone caused "off-line" learning, with no learning seen within training sessions, but a marked performance improvement over the days between sessions. This testosterone-induced learning occurred in the absence of changes in subjective confidence or introspective accuracy.
Our findings show that testosterone influences perceptual learning on a timescale consistent with an influence on "off-line" consolidation processes.
感知学习在不同的时间尺度上运作。不同的神经调质系统如何影响这些不同时间尺度上的学习，目前还了解甚少。
在这里，我们测试了一种新的影响因素——雄激素睾丸激素对感知学习的因果影响，这种影响涉及不同的时间尺度。
在一项双盲、安慰剂对照、交叉研究中，使用睾丸激素，受试者在两天的训练课程中完成了一项简单的对比检测任务。
在安慰剂组中，无论是在训练课程内还是在两天之间，都没有学习，除了在每个测试日的早期出现快速、迅速饱和的改善。然而，睾丸激素引起了“离线”学习，在训练课程内没有学习，但在课程之间的日子里表现出明显的改善。这种由睾丸激素引起的学习发生在主观信心或内省准确性没有变化的情况下。
我们的发现表明，睾丸激素影响感知学习的时间尺度与对“离线”巩固过程的影响一致。
