TY - JOUR T1 - The effect of task demands on the neural patterns generated by novel instruction encoding JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.03.08.434338 SP - 2021.03.08.434338 AU - Alberto Sobrado AU - Ana F. Palenciano AU - Carlos González-García AU - María Ruz Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/16/2021.03.08.434338.abstract N2 - Verbal instructions allow fast and optimal implementation of novel behaviors. Previous research has shown that different control-related variables organize neural activity in frontoparietal regions during the preparation of novel instructed task sets. Little is known, however, about how such variables organize brain activity under different task demands. In this study, we assessed the impact of implementation and memorization demands on the neural representation of novel instructions. We combined functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) with an instruction-following paradigm to compare the effect of three relevant control-related variables (integration of dimensions, response complexity, and stimulus category) across demands, and to explore the degree of overlap between these. Our results reveal, first, that the implementation and memorization of novel instructions share common neural patterns in several brain regions. Importantly, they also suggest that the preparation to implement instructions results in a strengthened coding of relevant control-related information in frontoparietal areas compared to their mere memorization. Overall, our study shows how the content of novel instructions proactively shapes brain activity based on multiple dimensions and how these organizational patterns are strengthened during implementation demands.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -