Publication Date
2021
Journal or Book Title
ELIFE
Abstract
Cognitive models in psychology and neuroscience widely assume that the human brain maintains an abstract representation of tasks. This assumption is fundamental to theories explaining how we learn quickly, think creatively, and act flexibly. However, neural evidence for a verifiably generative abstract task representation has been lacking. Here, we report an experimental paradigm that requires forming such a representation to act adaptively in novel conditions without feedback. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we observed that abstract task structure was represented within left mid-lateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral precuneus, and inferior parietal cortex. These results provide support for the neural instantiation of the long-supposed abstract task representation in a setting where we can verify its influence. Such a representation can afford massive expansions of behavioral flexibility without additional experience, a vital characteristic of human cognition.
ISSN
2050-084X
ORCID
Vaidya, Avinash/0000-0001-5423-5655
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63226
Volume
10
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Funder
Office of Naval ResearchOffice of Naval Research [N00014-16-1-2832, R25GM125500, F32MH116592]
Recommended Citation
Vaidya, Avinash R.; Jones, Henry M.; Castillo, Johanny; and Badre, David, "Neural Representation of Abstract Task Structure During Generalization" (2021). ELIFE. 61.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63226