ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on visual expertise in object recognition. Experts typically invest hours upon hours of hard work and practice to excel in their fields. Given the human brain's remarkable plasticity, it is unsurprising that the behavioral products of such an investment are accompanied by measurable neural changes. The neural correlates of perceptual expertise have been studied with neuroimaging, most often using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in which brain activation is measured via changes in blood flow indexed by the blood-oxygen-level dependent signal (BOLD signal). The bulk of perceptual expertise neuroimaging work has used traditional fMRI analysis methods to compare brain activation between conditions or subjects. However, new analysis methods allow researchers to explore new questions about the changes in representations that may support perceptual expertise. The development of multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) allows researchers to go beyond the mean activity level in an area to examine how activation patterns differ and relate to behavior.
