Title
Interfering with a memory without erasing its trace.
Abstract
Previous research has shown that performance of a novice skill can be easily interfered with by subsequent training of another skill. We address the open questions whether extensively trained skills show the same vulnerability to interference as novice skills and which memory mechanism regulates interference between expert skills. We developed a recurrent neural network model of V1 able to learn from feedback experienced over the course of a long-term orientation discrimination experiment. After first exposing the model to one discrimination task for 3480 consecutive trials, we assessed how its performance was affected by subsequent training in a second, similar task. Training the second task strongly interfered with the first (highly trained) discrimination skill. The magnitude of interference depended on the relative amounts of training devoted to the different tasks. We used these and other model outcomes as predictions for a perceptual learning experiment in which human participants underwent the same training protocol as our model. Specifically, over the course of three months participants underwent baseline training in one orientation discrimination task for 15 sessions before being trained for 15 sessions on a similar task and finally undergoing another 15 sessions of training on the first task (to assess interference). Across all conditions, the pattern of interference observed empirically closely matched model predictions. According to our model, behavioral interference can be explained by antagonistic changes in neuronal tuning induced by the two tasks. Remarkably, this did not stem from erasing connections due to earlier learning but rather from a reweighting of lateral inhibition.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1016/j.neunet.2019.09.027
Neural Networks
Keywords
Field
DocType
Perceptual learning,Behavioral interference,Expert skill,Early visual cortex,Tuning curves,Recurrent neural network
Perceptual learning,Cognitive psychology,Recurrent neural network,Lateral inhibition,Interference (wave propagation),Artificial intelligence,Neuronal tuning,Machine learning,Mathematics
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
121
1
0893-6080
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Gesa Lange100.34
Mario Senden2534.35
Alexandra Radermacher300.34
Peter De Weerd4335.42