Huang Bingfang, Ritz Harrison, Jiang Jiefeng
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Cognitive Control Collaborative, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
bioRxiv. 2025 Aug 11:2025.08.07.669231. doi: 10.1101/2025.08.07.669231.
Understanding how task knowledge is encoded neurally is crucial for uncovering the mechanisms underlying adaptive behavior. Here, we test the theory that all task information is integrated into a conjunctive task representation by investigating whether this representation simultaneously includes two types of associations that can guide behavior: stimulus-response (non-controlled) associations and stimulus-control (controlled) associations that inform how task focus should be adjusted to achieve goal-directed behavior. We extended the classic item-specific proportion congruency paradigm to dissociate the electroencephalographic (EEG) representations of controlled and non-controlled associations. Behavioral data replicated previous findings of association-driven adaptive behaviors. Decoding analyses of EEG data further showed that associations of controlled and non-controlled information were represented concurrently and differentially. Brain-behavioral analyses also showed that the strength of both associations was associated with faster responses. These findings support the idea that controlled and non-controlled associations are governed by an integrated task representation to guide adaptive behaviors simultaneously.
了解任务知识如何在神经层面进行编码对于揭示适应性行为背后的机制至关重要。在此，我们通过研究这种表征是否同时包含两种可指导行为的关联来检验所有任务信息都被整合到一个联合任务表征中的理论：刺激-反应（非受控）关联和刺激-控制（受控）关联，后者告知应如何调整任务焦点以实现目标导向行为。我们扩展了经典的特定项目比例一致性范式，以区分受控和非受控关联的脑电图（EEG）表征。行为数据重复了先前关于关联驱动的适应性行为的发现。对EEG数据的解码分析进一步表明，受控和非受控信息的关联是同时且有差异地呈现的。脑行为分析还表明，两种关联的强度都与更快的反应相关。这些发现支持了这样一种观点，即受控和非受控关联由一个整合的任务表征所支配，以同时指导适应性行为。
