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Adv."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Perceptual learning improves sensory sensitivity through practice but is typically specific to trained stimuli. Two contrasting accounts have been proposed: fine-tuning of feature-selective neurons in early sensory cortex, which raises a stability-plasticity dilemma, and reweighting of stable sensory inputs by higher-level readout. To reconcile these views, we recorded neuronal populations in macaque visual area V4 during training on a camouflaged collinear contour detection task. Behavioral improvements were strictly orientation specific, yet learning-related neural enhancements were unexpectedly widespread, regardless of neuronal tuning. Critically, these enhancements were confined to late, feedback-influenced response components, whereas early feedforward activity remained stable. These results support a feedforward-gated feedback mechanism: Learning potentiates higher-order representations that deliver diffuse feedback, broadly recruiting early cortical neurons, while behavioral specificity arises because this modulation is gated by feature-selective feedforward inputs associated with the trained stimulus. Rather than being sequestered in a single locus or process, perceptual expertise emerges from hierarchical, bidirectional interactions that enable learning while preserving core sensory stability.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.aeh5972","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T17:58:33Z","timestamp":1791395913000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34133\/aaas_crossmark","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Specific expertise from diffuse feedback: A feedforward-gated mechanism"],"prefix":"10.1126","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-9775-7889","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ruining","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &amp; IDG\/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, 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