Abstract rule learning promotes cognitive flexibility in complex environments across species

Abstract

Rapid learning in complex and changing environments is a hallmark of intelligent behavior. Humans achieve this in part through abstract concepts applicable to multiple, related situations. It is unclear, however, whether the computational mechanisms underlying rapid learning are unique to humans or also exist in other species. We combined behavioral, computational and electrophysiological analyses of a multidimensional rule-learning paradigm in male rats and in humans. We report that both species infer task rules by sequentially testing different hypotheses, rather than learning the correct action for all possible cue combinations. Neural substrates of hypothetical rules were detected in prefrontal network activity of both species. This species-conserved mechanism reduces task dimensionality and explains key experimental observations: sudden behavioral transitions and facilitated learning after prior experience. Our findings help to narrow the explanatory gap between human macroscopic and rodent microcircuit levels and provide a foundation for the translational investigation of impaired cognitive flexibility.