# Neurocognitive mechanisms of task representation reorganization during task learning

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2024 · $533,876

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Humans possess extraordinary flexibility in our behavior: Given the same environmental input, we can act
differently depending on our goals and the context. For example, when facing the same data, we can process
them differently depending on our goals (e.g., visualize the data to obtain a figure, perform statistical analysis
to test a prediction, or even delete the data if the goal is to free storage space). To date, research on this topic
has focused on how such flexible behavior is implemented via cognitive control, which is a set of cognitive
mechanisms supporting goal-directed and top-down modulation on information processing in the brain. In other
words, much research has been conducted to study how a task is executed. However, less is known about
where such task knowledge is from, that is, the mnemonic mechanisms that encode, reinforce, and generalize
the neural representations of task knowledge. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial to fully understand
human intelligence, as the remarkable abilities of learning and retaining task knowledge promptly and
efficiently distinguish humans from other animals and artificial intelligent agents and make us adaptive to this
ever-changing world. Furthermore, filling the knowledge gap of how we learn and remember task knowledge is
also key to understand, detect and treat task learning deficits that are common in mental disorders such as
schizophrenia and attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In this project, we will focus on the
hippocampus, a central brain structure for learning and memory. To achieve the objective of uncovering the
hippocampal contributions to task learning, six experiments are proposed using a combination of behavioral
methods and human functional magnetic resonance imaging. Specifically, Aim 1 will identify hippocampal
contribution to constructing a task representation by assembling task information and experiences to build a
task model. Aim 2 will identify how the hippocampus encodes a new task representation into a memory
network of existing representations. Aim 3 will identify how the hippocampus reshapes existing task
representations when they become associated with other tasks via compositional relations. This work is
expected to identify how the human hippocampus constructs key content of task representations (Aim 1) and
organizes multiple task representations in relation to each other (Aim 2 and 3). These findings will further our
understanding of how the hippocampus contributes to task learning, cognitive control and adaptive behavior.
This work will also have clinical impact in bridging the gap between hippocampal abnormality and task learning
deficits, which were separately observed in mental disorders such as schizophrenia and ADHD. Ultimately, this
work will have a broad impact in helping detect and treat task learning deficits.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10842284
- **Project number:** 5R01MH131559-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jiefeng Jiang
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $533,876
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-16 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10842284

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10842284, Neurocognitive mechanisms of task representation reorganization during task learning (5R01MH131559-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10842284. Licensed CC0.

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