{"doi":"10.1101/2024.01.31.578263","title":"Building compositional tasks with shared neural subspaces","abstract":"Abstract Cognition is remarkably flexible; we are able to rapidly learn and perform many different tasks 1 . Theoretical modeling has shown artificial neural networks trained to perform multiple tasks will re-use representations 2 and computational components 3 across tasks. By composing tasks from these sub-components, an agent can flexibly switch between tasks and rapidly learn new tasks 4 . Yet, whether such compositionality is found in the brain is unknown. Here, we show the same subspaces of neural activity represent task-relevant information across multiple tasks, with each task compositionally combining these subspaces in a task-specific manner. We trained monkeys to switch between three compositionally related tasks. Neural recordings found task-relevant information about stimulus features and motor actions were represented in subspaces of neural activity that were shared across tasks. When monkeys performed a task, neural representations in the relevant shared sensory subspace were transformed to the relevant shared motor subspace. Subspaces were flexibly engaged as monkeys discovered the task in effect; their internal belief about the current task predicted the strength of representations in task-relevant subspaces. In sum, our findings suggest that the brain can flexibly perform multiple tasks by compositionally combining task-relevant neural representations across tasks.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2024,"id":484013,"datarank":0.4636563680037475,"base_score":3.091042453358316,"endowment":3.091042453358316,"self_citation_contribution":0.4636563680037475,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.4636563680037475,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":21,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9438,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1325524,"name":"Flora Bouchacourt","orcid":"0000-0002-8893-0143","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1229341,"name":"Adel Ardalan","orcid":"0000-0001-5061-7832","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":869773,"name":"Nikola T. Markov","orcid":"0000-0003-1417-1161","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1325525,"name":"Motoaki Uchimura","orcid":"0000-0002-7070-317X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":23468,"name":"Marcelo G. Mattar","orcid":"0000-0003-3303-2490","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":447345,"name":"Nathaniel D. Daw","orcid":"0000-0001-5029-1430","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":279208,"name":"Timothy J. Buschman","orcid":"0000-0003-1298-2761","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1161411,"name":"Sina Tafazoli","orcid":"0000-0003-1926-0227","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":54,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:07:38.055693Z","pmid":"38352540","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}