Perceptual, procedural, and task learning for an auditory temporal discrimination task

Abstract

Perceptual learning reflects experience-driven improvements in the ability to detect changes in stimulus characteristics. The time course for perceptual learning overlaps with that for procedural learning (acquiring general skills and strategies) and task learning (learning the perceptual judgment specific to the task), making it difficult to isolate their individual effects. This study was conducted to examine the role of exposure to stimulus, procedure, and task information on learning for auditory temporal-interval discrimination. Eighty-three listeners completed five online sessions that required temporal-interval discrimination (target task). Before the initial session, listeners were differentially exposed to information about the target task's stimulus, procedure, or task characteristics. Learning occurred across sessions, but an exposure effect was not observed. Given the significant learning across sessions and variability within and across listeners, contributions from stimulus, procedure, and task exposure to overall learning cannot be discounted. These findings clarify the influence of experience on temporal perceptual learning and could inform designs of training paradigms that optimize perceptual improvements.