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Procedural and perceptual learning are important processes involved in skill acquisition and the formation of expertise. This chapter provides an overview of recent research on the neuroscientific investigation of these different learning forms underlying the acquisition of skills. We focus on low-level processes in perception and motor control and how these low-level processes are improved by learning. Other forms of neural plasticity like adaptation, habituation, sensitization, conditioning and extinction are differentiated from procedural and perceptual learning. A brief introduction to the neuroanatomical basis of visual function is given. We next review the research on the cognitive neuroscience of these forms of learning with a focus on studies that use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Recent results on dopaminergic and cholinergic processes underlying learning are discussed in the context of a top-down attention-gated model of perceptual learning. Finally an overview is given of research on skill acquisition and the implications of this research on the design of learning environments.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-8902-8_12

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