Topic: auditory task

Learning is not only the acquisition of knowledge, but also the ability to express that knowledge when needed. Previous work using non-reinforced probe trials showed that animals exhibit complete acquisition of stimulus-action associations far before they express them under reinforcement. Why do animals exhibit this gap in performance between acquisition and expression despite already acquiring the stimulus-action associations? Early in learning, animals may (1) exhibit motor biases that they slowly learn to suppress, (2) continue to explore different choice alternatives, or (3) base decisions

It is widely acknowledged that top-down influences such as our prior experiences, expectations and knowledge influence the way in which we perceive information. However less attention has been given to how different sources of top-down influences interact when modifying sensory information. In this study we utilized concurrent behavioral and EEG measurements to examine the main and interactive effects of two sources of expectations - informative hints (semantic priming) and stimulus repetition - in an auditory task relying on recognizing spoken words embedded in noise. We manipulated participa