Biology subjects

Theves, S.

Publications and source records attributed to Theves, S..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Neural alignment of knowledge structures relates to human intelligence

Human general intelligence reflects stable performance correlations across diverse cognitive tasks and predicts major life outcomes. However, the relevant neural information processing mechanisms remain unclear. Structure mapping -- the alignment of novel problems onto the relational structure of prior knowledge -- has been proposed as a core principle in human reasoning. Combining time-resolved neural geometry analyses of task-based fMRI data with cognitive testing in a large sample, we demonstrate structural alignment of newly learned relations to preexisting knowledge representations in parietal cortex. Interindividual differences in neural alignment supported learning and reasoning and, beyond the task level, predicted the latent factor fluid intelligence. These findings provide first neural evidence that the computational principle of structure mapping contributes to individual differences in intelligence.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Inference over hidden contexts shapes the geometry of conceptual knowledge for flexible behaviour

Flexible decision-making in uncertain environments requires inferring latent task states and prioritising behaviourally relevant information. We tested the hypothesis that this process is associated with systematic changes in attention and neural representational structure. Human participants performed a serial reversal learning task that required identifying which stimulus dimension(s) were currently relevant. Behaviourally, participants rapidly adapted to context switches, and a hidden-state inference model best explained these adaptations, outperforming multiple reinforcement-learning variants in predicting both choices and inferred contexts. Oculomotor behaviour provided converging evidence for selective attention, with gaze increasingly concentrated on relevant features, tracking trial-by-trial belief updates, and transiently broadening following high prediction errors. Guided by these results, we used magnetoencephalography to examine how latent-state inference was reflected in neural activity. Neural representations encoded the currently inferred context and were modulated by recent prediction errors, with larger prediction errors associated with weaker context representations on subsequent trials. Representational analyses further revealed that successful performance was associated with a systematic reorganisation of neural geometry, characterised by selective amplification of task-relevant representational distances and increased separation of behaviourally relevant stimulus values. Together, our findings demonstrate that latent-state inference, attention, and neural representational geometry are tightly coordinated during flexible decision-making, providing a systems-level account of how behaviourally relevant information is selectively prioritised and represented to support adaptive behaviour.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Representation of conceptual affordances in eye movements and the entorhinal cortex

Structural representations in the entorhinal cortex are a crucial feature of cognitive maps. However, a complete understanding of task structure often requires knowledge of the actions available at each state (analogous to the moves of different pieces on a chessboard). Moreover, action representations are key to several models of the hippocampal-entorhinal system. In this study, we tested whether the entorhinal cortex represents the actions that allow transitioning between states of a conceptual space. In particular, participants learned to transition between numerically-labelled states using different mathematical operations. Behaviourally, participants learned and generalised action information across states. Action information was also reflected in eye movements, indicating the active processing of the possible actions for a given state during the trials. Importantly, we found that neural pattern similarity in the right entorhinal cortex scaled with the similarity of action affordances across the states. This affordance representation was not explained by other properties of the task space such as link distance between the states or action magnitude. In sum, this study provides first evidence for the integration of action information into ocular and entorhinal representations of conceptual spaces, suggesting that these may not just store experiences, but provide information about how to explore knowledge.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Fluid intelligence relates to neural measures of cognitive map formation

Psychometric research on intelligence consistently identifies latent factors underlying performance correlations across cognitive tasks, with one general factor (g) explaining most variance and predicting general life outcomes. Their biological basis is yet unresolved, in particular with regard to the neural information processing mechanisms that may underlie intelligence. Here we test the hypothesis that interindividual differences in relational processing, supported by cognitive maps in the hippocampus, are related to fluid intelligence (gf), a statistical approximation of the general factor. Using standardized cognitive tests and fMRI of different mnemonic tasks, we demonstrate a positive correlation between gf and map-like encoding of object positions learned piecemeal. The behavioral and neural geometry of object representations in the lower gf range was less consistent with any two-dimensional representation, congruent with a lack of relational integration at encoding. The specificity of the link between cognitive maps and intelligence to relational processing was further supported by comparisons to non-relational mnemonic processing in the hippocampus during item recognition. These findings offer first empirical support for a link between neural mechanisms related to relational reasoning and general cognitive performance and probe the presumed relevance of hippocampal coding properties for cognition more broadly.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

The hippocampus supports interpolation into new states during category abstraction

The hippocampus forms concepts by integrating multi-feature relations into a unified representation. A common yet unconfirmed assumption is that such cognitive maps afford interpolations to never-experienced states. We approach this question as a category-learning problem in which prototypes are omitted from training but guide category-based decisions in a subsequent feature-inference task. Consistent with behavior, missing inferred stimulus features were represented at prototypical values in neocortex. This cortical completion effect correlated with hippocampal responses, which in turn reflected the distance between imagined prototypes and experienced exemplars. This was paralleled by a learning-dependent grid-like representation of the underlying conceptual space in entorhinal cortex. Our results suggest that abstracted prototypes correspond to interpolated central states in a cognitive map that guide cortical pattern completion during category-based decisions.

neuroscience↗