Project Summary Dr. Rosedahl’s long-term career goal is to understand how vision operates in tasks that involve the interaction between multiple visual processes such as category learning, visual perceptual learning, and visual attention. This knowledge could be used to design better training paradigms for visual tasks and increase the efficiency of visual rehabilitation training. In this project, Dr. Rosedahl will examine how category learning and attention induce visual perceptual learning transfer. Visual Perceptual Learning (VPL) is long-term improvement in visual tasks like telling the difference between the angle of two lines or detecting the presence of stripes. VPL is one of the most promising methods to improve vision in individuals with visual impairment. Unfortunately, research has found that VPL is very specific to the trained task. This specificity greatly limits the use of VPL in training paradigms for visual rehabilitation and motivates the goal of this work: to understand the mechanisms by which VPL can transfer to untrained features and visual field locations. This work focuses on understanding two paradigms that cause VPL to transfer: Category-Learning Induced Transfer of VPL (CIT-VPL) and double- training. To understand the neural mechanism behind transfer in these paradigms and prepare for his independent career, Dr. Rosedahl will receive training in technical and career skills at Brown University. He will be mentored in visual perceptual learning by Prof. Takeo Watanabe, deep neural network models of vision by Prof. Thomas Serre, and brain imaging techniques by Prof. Yuka Sasaki. Dr. Rosedahl will then build a unified model of category learning, visual processing, VPL, and feature-based attention (Aim 1). Dr. Rosedahl will use this model (CAPL) to interpret the results of four experiments to determine if feature-based attention is causing transfer in CIT-VPL (Aim 2). The experiments will measure performance improvement, neural activation using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and changes in neurotransmitter concentrations using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Dr. Rosedahl will also receive training in essential skills to facilitate the transition to his independent research career, such as grant writing, manuscript preparation, oral communication, lab management, and preparing job application materials. After securing his independent position as an assistant professor, Dr. Rosedahl will expand CAPL to include spatial attention (Aim 3) and use the improved model to interpret experiments testing whether feature-based attention and spatial attention combine to cause transfer in double-training (Aim 4). Overall, the work proposed here will establish a novel unified model of category learning, attention, and VPL (CAPL) and provide insight into the mechanisms of VPL transfer, knowledge that is currently lacking. CAPL will be a valuable resource for the broader scientific community to study visual learning. Additionally, the ...