This project inves­ti­gates neural mecha­nisms that play an impor­tant role in visual percep­tual learn­ing (VPL) when process­ing task-relevant and task-irrel­e­vant visual infor­ma­tion. Of partic­u­lar inter­est here is how mecha­nisms of VPL change from child­hood to adult­hood and how the occur­rence of VPL can be supported in differ­ent age groups.

This project inves­ti­gates neuronal mecha­nisms that play a key role in visual percep­tual learn­ing (VPL) in differ­ent age groups. Previ­ous findings show that the occur­rence of VPL in adults depends on the relevance of visual infor­ma­tion to a task. VPL allows adults to process relevant stimuli that have been trained more efficiently than before train­ing. In adults, however, VPL does not occur for visual stimuli that are irrel­e­vant and highly salient. This is differ­ent for primary school-aged children, because they show VPL for both trained relevant and salient irrel­e­vant stimuli. Based on these prelim­i­nary findings, I inves­ti­gate how neural mecha­nisms of VPL for relevant and irrel­e­vant stimuli change from child­hood to adult­hood. To inves­ti­gate my question, I combine methods from psychophysics and non-invasive MRI-based imaging of visual brain regions.