Felßberg Anna-Maria, Schönemann Nadine, Hopf Jens-Max, Schoenfeld Mircea Ariel, Merkel Christian
Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
Leibniz-Institute of Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
Imaging Neurosci (Camb). 2025 May 12;3. doi: 10.1162/imag_a_00577. eCollection 2025.
A fundamental mechanism enabling object permanence for the visual system constitutes visual tracking. During the interaction with a dynamic visual environment we are able to continuously track a multitude of objects simultaneously. Early work suggests that this mechanism is subject to improvement under task-specific behavioral training, though exhibiting a limited transferability to other cognitive tasks. Interestingly enough, specific groups of subjects, regularly involved with demanding visual tasks, may possess expertise in the tracking-task, hinting toward long-term perceptual learning processes playing a role in modulating functional networks involved in visual tracking. In order to identify functional networks being susceptible to cortical flexibility during prolonged task-specific performance, thirty-three subjects executed a multiple-object-tracking task over the course of five successive sessions over 2 weeks. During the first and last session, domain-specific location- and object-based representational functional response patterns toward the relevant, attended target objects at the end of the tracking phase were recorded using a 3T Scanner. Differential modulations were observed within two separate functional networks identified previously being involved in encoding the location-based and object-based aspects of the tracking task. During training, parametric, location-based information processing consolidates preferentially within visual cortical areas over time and shifts from an object-based, non-parametric mechanism within frontal control networks.
视觉系统实现客体永久性的一个基本机制是视觉追踪。在与动态视觉环境的交互过程中，我们能够同时持续追踪多个物体。早期研究表明，这种机制在特定任务的行为训练下会得到改善，不过对其他认知任务的可迁移性有限。有趣的是，经常参与高要求视觉任务的特定受试者群体可能在追踪任务方面具有专业技能，这表明长期的感知学习过程在调节视觉追踪所涉及的功能网络中发挥了作用。为了确定在长时间的特定任务表现过程中易受皮质灵活性影响的功能网络，33名受试者在2周内连续进行了5次多物体追踪任务。在第一次和最后一次实验中，使用3T扫描仪记录了在追踪阶段结束时，针对相关的、被关注的目标物体的特定领域基于位置和物体的表征功能反应模式。在先前确定的参与编码追踪任务基于位置和基于物体方面的两个独立功能网络中观察到了差异调制。在训练过程中，基于参数的、基于位置的信息处理随着时间的推移优先在视觉皮质区域内巩固，并从额叶控制网络内基于物体的、非参数机制转变而来。
