Dynamics of Hierarchical Task Representations.

Autor:	Cellier D; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.; Cognitive Control Collaborative, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.; Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242., Petersen IT; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.; Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242., Hwang K; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 kai-hwang@uiowa.edu.; Cognitive Control Collaborative, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.; Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.; Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience [J Neurosci] 2022 Sep 21; Vol. 42 (38), pp. 7276-7284. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Sep 21.
DOI:	10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0233-22.2022
Abstrakt:	Task representations are critical for cognitive control and adaptive behavior. The hierarchical organization of task representations allows humans to maintain goals, integrate information across varying contexts, and select potential responses. In this study we characterized the structure and interactive dynamics of task representations that facilitate cognitive control. Human participants (both males and females) performed a hierarchical task that required them to select a response rule while considering the contingencies from different contextual inputs. By applying time- and frequency-resolved representational similarity analysis to human electroencephalography data, we characterized properties of task representations that are otherwise difficult to observe. We found that participants formed multiple representations of task-relevant contexts and features from the presented stimuli, beyond simple stimulus-response mappings. These disparate representations were hierarchically structured, with higher-order contextual representations dominantly influencing subordinate representations of task features and response rules. Furthermore, this cascade of top-down interactions facilitated faster responses. Our results describe key properties of task representations that support hierarchical cognitive control. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans can adjust their actions in response to contingencies imposed by the environment. Although it has long been hypothesized that this ability depends on mental representations of tasks, the neural dynamics of task representations have been difficult to characterize. Our study used electroencephalography data from human participants to demonstrate the neural organization and interactive dynamics of task representations. Our results revealed a top-down, hierarchically organized representational structure that encoded multiple contexts and features from the environment. To support cognitive control, higher-level contextual representations influenced subordinate representations of task-relevant features and potential responses, facilitating response selection in a context-dependent manner. Our results provide direct evidence of organizational properties of task representations, which are cornerstones of cognitive control theories. (Copyright © 2022 the authors.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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