Schedule of Events | Symposia

Sketchpad Series

Hippocampo-cortical contributions to the structured organization of task knowledge

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Bettina Bustos¹, Jiefeng Jiang; ¹University of Iowa, Psychological and Brain Sciences, ²Cogitive Control Collaborative

Successful task switching requires resolving interference from the previous task and reconfiguring the representation of the new task, both of which depend on how task representations are organized in the brain. Tasks may be encoded in orthogonal representations to minimize interference, though this would maximize reconfiguration demands. Alternatively, it is possible that task knowledge is organized within a common reference frame, balancing interference and reconfiguration costs by modulating the similarity between task representations. A potential candidate for this reference frame is a cognitive map, where task features are encoded as continuous parameters like coordinates on a map, with each point uniquely identifying a task. We test this hypothesis using a parametric task-switching paradigm with high-resolution 7T fMRI, focusing on the role of the hippocampus and cortex in constructing relational maps of task knowledge, such as stimulus, response, and rule representations. These regions are critical for forming relational cognitive maps. Preliminary data (N = 12) reveal significant regions of interest, including the posterior cingulate cortex, insula, and frontoparietal cortex, where task information is represented during execution. Moreover, we hypothesize that the strength of the correlation between task and pattern similarity in the frontoparietal cortex is linked to hippocampal activation. Understanding the organization of task rules will aid our understanding of how task knowledge organization supports cognitive flexibility.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Goal maintenance & switching