Biology subjects

Trudel, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Trudel, N..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Frontotemporal cortex flexibly adapts latent structural representations

Humans excel at navigating complex environments by forming abstract structural representations that can be flexibly updated when environments change. Here, we examine how the brain dynamically reconfigures these internal models in response to covert changes in latent hierarchies. Using a novel inference task and fMRI repetition suppression, we find that stable relational knowledge is encoded in medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), while structural changes trigger transient representations across hippocampal and prefrontal regions. Newly inferred associations are first encoded in anterior medial frontal cortex (amFC) and migrate ventrally to mOFC when settling. In contrast, outdated associations transiently engage frontopolar cortex and hippocampus, with the hippocampus, but not frontal areas, retaining a residual memory trace. Notably, the strength of early novel signals in amFC and hippocampus tracks individual differences in behavioural adaptation. Together, these results characterise mechanisms supporting adaptive structural reconfiguration in the human brain, with implications for cognitive inflexibility in psychiatric disorders. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe brain relies on internal models of hidden environmental structure, yet how these models are revised when the world changes remains unclear. We developed a novel task and neuroimaging approach that allowed us to trace the emergence, maintenance, and dissolution of latent structural representations in humans. Stable representations were encoded in medial orbitofrontal cortex, whereas newly formed and outdated associations followed distinct temporal trajectories across frontal and hippocampal regions. Outdated representations transiently recruited frontopolar cortex but persisted in hippocampus after becoming behaviorally irrelevant. Neural signatures of updating predicted individual differences in adaptation, revealing candidate mechanisms through which cognitive flexibility, and its impairment in psychiatric disorders, may arise.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Preserved self-other integration during social decision making among individuals with elevated autistic traits

Autistic people can find social interactions difficult to navigate, traditionally attributed to difficulties in taking others perspectives. However, we have a limited understanding of how autistic people integrate self and other information efficiently during social decision-making. We conducted four highly powered experiments (total N = 1,621) to determine whether autistic traits affect two aspects of self-other integration during social decision making: self-bias and social basis function use. Using Bayesian analyses, we found strong support for the absence of a relationship between autistic traits and either aspect of social decision making, even after controlling for potential confounds (BF01 = 32.13 for self-bias, BF01 = 7.04 for social basis function use). Our results indicate that variations along autistic traits do not impact how people prioritise self-relevant information (self-bias) or utilize compressed social patterns of interaction (social basis function use) to guide their decisions about oneself and other people. These findings nuance the conceptualisation of social-cognitive processes across autistic traits while highlighting the need for large samples to validate null effects.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Indecision and recency-weighted evidence integration in non-clinical and clinical settings

Biases in information gathering are common in the general population and can reach pathological extremes in paralysing indecisiveness, as in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Here, we adopt a new perspective on information gathering and demonstrate an information integration bias where most recent information is over-weighted by means of evidence strength updates ({Delta}ES). In a large, crowd-sourced sample (N=5,237), we find reduced {Delta}ES-weighting drives indecisiveness along an OC spectrum. We replicate the attenuated {Delta}ES- weighting in a second lab-based study (N=105) that includes a transdiagnostic OC spectrum encompassing OCD and generalised anxiety patients. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we trace {Delta}ES signals to a late neural signal peaking around 920 ms. Critically, high-OC participants show an attenuated neural {Delta}ES signal in medio-frontal areas while other decision- relevant processes remain intact. Our findings establish biased information-weighting as a key driver of information gathering, where attenuated {Delta}ES can lead to indecisiveness across an OC spectrum.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Neural activity tracking identity and confidence in social information

Humans learn about the environment either directly by interacting with it or indirectly by seeking information about it from social sources such as conspecifics. The degree of confidence in the information obtained through either route should determine the impact that it has on adapting and changing behaviour. We examined whether and how behavioural and neural computations differ during non-social learning as opposed to learning from social sources. Trial-wise confidence judgments about non-social and social information sources offered a window into this learning process. Despite matching exactly the statistical features of social and non-social conditions, confidence judgments were more accurate and less changeable when they were made about social as opposed to non-social information sources. In addition to subjective reports of confidence, differences were also apparent in the Bayesian estimates of participants subjective beliefs. Univariate activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and posterior temporo-parietal junction (pTPJ) more closely tracked confidence about social as opposed to non-social information sources. In addition, the multivariate patterns of activity in the same areas encoded identities of social information sources compared to non-social information sources.

neuroscience↗