Perceptual learning and development

Perceptual learning is experience-dependent enhancement of our ability to make sense of

what we see, hear, feel, taste or smell. These changes are permanent or semi-permanent, as
distinct from shorter-term mechanisms like sensory adaptation or habituation. Moreover,
these changes are not merely incidental but rather adaptive and therefore confer benefits,
like improved sensitivity to weak or ambiguous stimuli.

● Perceptual learning reflects an inherent property of our perceptual systems and thus
must be studied to understand perception
● Perceptual learning is robust even in adults and thus represents an important
substrate for studying mechanisms of learning and memory that persist beyond
development
● Perceptual learning is readily studied in a laboratory using simple perceptual tasks
and thus researchers can exploit well-established psychophysical, physiological and
computational methods to investigate the underlying mechanisms

Training-induced improvements in performance on perceptual tasks do not, by themselves,

imply perceptual learning. Other forms of learning, such as those that establish task rules,
associations and strategies, can similarly affect performance. Unlike these higher-order
forms of learning, however, perceptual learning involves improved sensitivity independent
of cognitive, motor or other, non-perceptual factors. Thus, perceptual learning is often
measured as decreases in the strength, quality or duration of a stimulus needed to obtain a
particular level of accuracy.

Applying signal detection theory to these data can help to distinguish changes in perceptual
sensitivity from other factors like choice biases. Identifying such changes in sensitivity in the
absence of comparable changes in performance for easily perceived stimuli can further
distinguish perceptual learning from higher-order task learning, a particularly important
consideration for non-human subjects who must learn task rules by trial and error. In
addition, perceptual learning is often, but not always, specific to the stimulus configuration
used during training, like the location and orientation of visual stimuli in a texture-
discrimination task. Such specificity is unlikely to arise with more cognitive adjustments of
task performance.

Early theories of perceptual learning-like phenomena focused on associative concepts, like

the improved ability to associate meaning with particular stimuli. Perceptual learning is now
recognized to involve improved sensory processing independent of associated meaning,
sometimes even occurring in the absence of directed attention towards or even perception
of the trained stimulus. But even these findings are somewhat complicated, in that
association with a reward provided for a different context might be necessary for at least
some forms of perceptual learning, and merit further study.
Perception of shape/form
Humans have a preference for picking out figures from their background. This most basic
process in perception of form is recognizing a figure on a background occurs even as early as
birth. For example, we notice clocks hanging on the walls, a teacher standing in front of a
blackboard or our teacher’s lecture standing out of the sound of the fan. This ability to
distinguish an object from its background is fundamental to all form perception.

Figure- background
Figure can be defined as the part of stimuli that is into focus of the perceiver i.e. the central
figure. It has a definite shape in reference to its surroundings. Figure is also an object that
has a location in space. Background is the total surrounding of the figure. The characteristic
of background is that it is always in continuity or in simple terms we can say that it is not
defined by finite boundaries or lines.

FIGURE BACKGROUND

In focus of the perceiver Is not in focus of perceiver

Has definite shape Does not have definite shape

Is defined by finite boundaries Is not defined by finite boundaries

Has a location in space Is always in continuity

Contours
Contours give shape to the objects in our visual world as they mark one object separate
from another or its respective background. Contours are formed when there is a marked
difference in brightness or colour of the background. For example, birds are seen in contrast
to its white sky. This is due to our ability to notice the marked difference in the colour of the
object (bird) and its background (sky).

When contours are disrupted visually, we find it difficult to distinguish objects from its
background. This occurs in the case of camouflage. But it must be remembered that though
contours give shape to forms, it does not mean that they themselves are shapes. It has been
seen that despite the energy level changes involved in the formation of contours, contours
can also be seen even in the absence of any energy difference. These are so-called
subjective contours.

Perception of space
The visual field or surface in which things exist, move or can be placed is called space. The
space in which we live is organised in three dimensions. We perceive not only the spatial
attributes (e.g., size, shape, direction) of various objects, but also the distance between the
objects found in this space. While the images of objects projected on to our retina are flat
and two dimensional (left, right, up, down), we still perceive three dimensions in the space.
It occurs due to our ability to transfer a two dimensional retinal vision into a three
dimensional perception. The process of viewing the world in three dimensions is called
distance or depth perception.

Depth perception
Depth perception can be defined as the ability to see the world in three dimensions. It is this
ability that tells us how far or near an object is from us.

Monocular cues
● Relative Size: when an object of a certain size appears to be small, we perceive it as
being far away. This is based on the principle of size constancy.
● Linear perspective: it is the tendency of parallel lines to appear to converge with
each other as they recede into distance. A typical example is the railroad track.
● Aerial perspective: this seems to work on the principle that farther away an object,
the more hazy it will appear. Example: distant mountains appear hazier than the
near ones.
● Texture gradient: it is the tendency for textured surfaces to become finer as distance
from the viewer increases.
● Accommodation: accommodation is the ability of the brain to use information about
the changing thickness of the lens when one looks at an object that is placed close or
far away.
● Motion parallax: It is credited for being effective across an enormous range of
distances. Here, the objects that are closer appear to pass by more quickly than
objects that are farther away. A classic example would be of you travelling in your
car and the nearby trees pass more quickly than the trees that are farther away.
● Light and Shade : In the light some parts of the object get highlighted, whereas some
parts become darker. Highlights and shadows provide us with information about an
object’s distance.

Binocular cues
● Retinal or Binocular Disparity : Retinal disparity occurs because the two eyes have
different locations in our head. Because of this distance, the image formed on the
retina of each eye of the same object is slightly different. The brain interprets a large
retinal disparity to mean a close object and a small retinal disparity to mean a distant
object, as the disparity is less for distant objects and more for the near objects.
● Convergence : When we see a nearby object our eyes converge inward in order to
bring the image on the fovea of each eye. A group of muscles send messages to the
 brain regarding the degree to which eyes are turning inward, and these messages
are interpreted as cues to the perception of depth. The degree of convergence
decreases as the object moves further away from the observer.
● Accommodation : Accommodation refers to a process by which we focus the image
on the retina with the help of ciliary muscle. These muscles change the thickness of
the lens of the eye. If the object gets away, the muscle is relaxed. As the object
moves nearer, the muscle contracts and the thickness of the lens increases. The
signal about the degree of contraction of the muscle is sent to the brain, which
provides the cue for distance.

Perception of motion
The perception of movement is a complex process, sometimes requiring the brain to
integrate information from several different senses. Adaptive behavior in the visual world
requires that we perceive movement accurately. For instance, as a cricket player, it becomes
necessary for one to perfectly judge the movement of an approaching ball if he intends to
play rather than being on the bench or in the hospital.

Real motion : The perception of actual physical movement of objects in the world is called
real perception i.e. when an object moves in reality, it is called real motion. This motion
involves the active processing of the sensory input, for instance, the movement of an
approaching football to a player in a soccer match. We perceive real motion because the
object’s perceived velocity is dependent on the rate at which an object moves relative to its
background.

Apparent motion : It is defined as the movement perceived in the absence of physical

movement of an image across the retina. One must know that the illusion of smooth motion
can be produced if we arrange sequential appearances of two or more stimuli. This apparent
motion is known as stroboscopic movement and can be defined as the illusionary
movement. This concept is applied in movies and on television. A movie projector simply
throws a succession of pictures of a moving scene onto a screen, which creates the illusion
of movement.

Sensory integration theory

The term “sensory integration” refers to the processing, integration, and organisation of
sensory information from the body and the environment.
This means how we experience, interpret and react to (or ignore) information coming from
our senses. Sensory integration is important in all the things that we need to do on a daily
basis, such as getting dressed, eating, moving around, socialising, learning and working.

Sensory information is received from our senses, which include:

● Sight (vision)
 ● Hearing (auditory system)
● Touch (tactile system)
● Taste (gustatory system)
● Smell (olfactory system)
● Proprioception (senses of body awareness and position)
● Vestibular (awareness of movement, balance, and coordination)
● Interoception (internal sensory system that tells us what’s happening in our body)

For most of us, the development of sensory integration occurs when we are young as part of
our normal development and in the things we do such as rolling, crawling, walking and in
play; for others, sensory integration is less well developed.

Our understanding of sensory integration was initially developed in the late 60s and 70s by
Dr A Jean Ayres, an occupational therapist and psychologist with an understanding of
neuroscience, working in the USA. Ayres defined sensory integration as: “The neurological
process that organises sensation from one’s own body and from the environment and
makes it possible to use the body effectively with the environment.” (1972)

Sensory Integration Theory aims to explain behaviours, plan intervention, and predict
behavioural change through intervention, and provide specific intervention strategies to
remediate the underlying sensory issues that affect functional performance. It proposes
therapeutic interventions that incorporate sensation to affect multi-sensory perception to
influence learning and behaviour, as the central nervous system does not process sensory
information in isolation. It documented six types of sensory integration dysfunction; they
are: developmental dyspraxia, visual perception, form and space perception, and visual-
motor functions, tactile defensiveness linked with hyperactive-distractible behaviors,
vestibular and postural deficits, deficits in visual figure ground discrimination, and deficits in
auditory and language functions. The hallmark of sensory integration is that it is done in a
safe environment that children play, which the activities are the reward to them. The
intervention addresses the sensory needs for children to make adaptive responses to the
environments. It adapted the principles of motor learning, adaptive response, and
purposeful activity. It has a list of essential principles for intervention using the sensory
integration approach. Some include activities that are rich in sensation to promote
regulation of affect and alertness, etc.