Context-enabled learning in the human visual system

Training was found to improve the performance of humans on a variety of visual perceptual tasks(1,2). However, the ability to detect small changes in the contrast of simple visual stimuli could not be improved by repetition(3). Here we show that the performance of this basic task could be modified after the discrimination of the stimulus contrast was practised in the presence of similar laterally placed stimuli, suggesting a change in the local neuronal circuit involved in the task. On the basis of a combination of hebbian and anti-hebbian synaptic learning rules compatible with our results, we propose a mechanism of plasticity in the visual cortex that is enabled by a change in the context.