Examples of perceptual learning

In everyday life we encounter many examples of perceptual learning, for each of the senses. Regarding vision, doctors and medical technicians are trained to extract relevant information from images that appear to be a confusing jumble to the untrained eye. A cancer specialist can spot tumors in CT and MRI scans. An obstetrician can effortlessly determine, from a hand-held ultrasound scanner, whether structures in a fetus are developing normally. Regarding hearing, musicians learn to distinguish and classify various musical notes after extensive practice. Audiophiles learn to notice particular flaws in music reproduction due to recording, compression, speaker, and room-acoustic issues. Regarding taste and smell, a sommelier learns to distinguish subtle differences between wines. Regarding touch, the blind learn to read Braille, which is expressed as tiny patterns of raised dots that are felt with fingertips. All of these examples seem impossible to a newcomer, to the point that it would seem we do not even have the neural hardware for accomplishing it. Nevertheless, through established perceptual training programs and/or repeated practice, people can acquire surprisingly powerful perceptual abilities. Why not do the same for evaluating VR?