Induction of auditory perceptual learning

Performance on many perceptual tasks improves with practice even in adults, indicating that our sensory systems are not rigid but rather can be changed through experience. My co-workers and I have been investigating the factors that induce perceptual learning on auditory skills. We have evidence that two key requirements for perceptual improvement to occur across days are performance of the task to be learned and a sufficient amount of training per day. Beyond these core requirements, we also have documented that perceptual training can be made more efficient by not exceeding the required amount of daily training and by replacing a subset of the training trials with stimulus exposure alone. The elements of successful training regimens provide insights into perceptual-learning mechanisms. A greater knowledge of these mechanisms will lead to more effective training strategies to help restore perceptual skills in people with perceptual disorders as well as to enhance those skills in people with normal perception.