RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Episodic memory supports the acquisition of structured task representations
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2024.05.06.592749
DO 10.1101/2024.05.06.592749
A1 Lu, Qihong
A1 Hummos, Ali
A1 Norman, Kenneth A.
YR 2024
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2024/05/07/2024.05.06.592749.abstract
AB Generalization to new tasks requires learning of task representations that accurately reflect the similarity structure of the task space. Here, we argue that episodic memory (EM) plays an essential role in this process by stabilizing task representations, thereby supporting the accumulation of structured knowledge. We demonstrate this using a neural network model that infers task representations that minimize the current task’s objective function; crucially, the model can retrieve previously encoded task representations from EM and use these to initialize the task inference process. With EM, the model succeeds in learning the underlying task structure; without EM, task representations drift and the network fails to learn the structure. We further show that EM errors can support structure learning by promoting the activation of similar task representations in tasks with similar sensory inputs. Overall, this model provides a novel account of how EM supports the acquisition of structured task representations.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.