Presenter(s): Takako Iwashita
Faculty Mentor(s): Dasa Zeithamova & Caitlin Bowman
Poster 128
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
Concept learning involves linking related pieces of information to a shared label, like learning that furry creatures that bark are called ‘dogs.’ People vary is how well they learn concepts and apply them to new situations (generalization). What factors drive these individual differences? In the present study, we tested whether stable aspects of intelligence or transient activations in the brain best predicted concept generalization abilities. To measure aspects of intelligence, subjects underwent an assessment that included measures of working memory, processing speed, perceptual reasoning, and verbal comprehension, which could be combined into an overall IQ. Subjects also completed a concept generalization task while undergoing fMRI, allowing us to measure activations in brain regions that are part of the explicit rule-learning system (hippocampus, prefrontal cortex) or part of an implicit system that learns without awareness (caudate, posterior visual cortex). To elucidate the shared or dissociable roles of behavioral and neural predictors in concept generalization, we tested the relationship between accuracy in concept generalization and individual differences in measures of intelligence and activation in each brain region of interest. Behaviorally, we found that overall IQ, but not its subcomponents, predicted concept generalization abilities. Neurally, we found that only the activation in the hippocampus predicted concept generalization abilities. Finally, we found that IQ and hippocampal activation each predicted concept generalization above-and-beyond each other. These results show dissociable contributions of behavioral and neural predictors of concept generalization, suggesting that both stable cognitive abilities and transient brain states influence the ability to learn new concepts.