Concept learning is learning about the regularities or patterns that separate stimuli into different groups, or concepts. The overall aim of this project is to differentiate between forms of concept learning and their constituent subprocesses through the identification of participating neural systems using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
The first aim i s to dissociate the neural substrates of rule learning (classifying on the basis of a verbalizable rule, such as """"""""always choose the blue stimulus"""""""") from exemplar learning (classifying on the basis of similarity to previously learned stimuli), and to compare the brain activity of learners with persons who fail to learn.
The second aim i s to dissociate the neural systems underlying rule formation from rule application. Rule learning is dependent on executive functions subserved by the frontal lobes, and thus these studies have the potential to elucidate the pattern of deficits seen in patients with frontal lobe damage due to stroke or traumatic brain injury.
The third aim i s to related recruitment of striatal brain structures in concept learning to the degree that a probabilistic relationship exists between a stimulus and its concept membership. Because the striatum is damaged in disorders such as Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, this study may provide insight into the types of learning problems seen in patients with these diseases.
| Schmidt, Gwenda L; Seger, Carol A (2009) Neural correlates of metaphor processing: the roles of figurativeness, familiarity and difficulty. Brain Cogn 71:375-86 |
| Seger, Carol A (2008) How do the basal ganglia contribute to categorization? Their roles in generalization, response selection, and learning via feedback. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 32:265-78 |
| Seger, Carol A; Cincotta, Corinna M (2006) Dynamics of frontal, striatal, and hippocampal systems during rule learning. Cereb Cortex 16:1546-55 |
| Kisley, Michael A; Davalos, Deana B; Layton, Heidi S et al. (2004) Small changes in temporal deviance modulate mismatch negativity amplitude in humans. Neurosci Lett 358:197-200 |
