9)Our results suggest the shift from compositional-conjunctive representations serves as a general neurocomputational signature of learning. So early experience of learning the cello is reliant on retrieval of compositional reps, whilst later practice encodes more specialized cortical conjunctions.

8) Despite the observed importance of cortical conjunctions, subcortical regions (hippocampus and cerebellum) have a critical role in orchestrating the cross-network interactions that bind compositional representations into conjunctions.

7) The strength of conjunctions specifically in cortex index the extent/robustness of practice, associating with behavioral improvement, increased pattern separation and resistance to task switching costs.

6)We find that novel tasks rely on task-general compositional representations (allowing transfer of abstract knowledge), whereas practiced tasks are reliant on task-specific conjunctions (allowing for specialization/expertise). Conjunctions originate in subcortex before slowly spreading to cortex.

5) We tackled this question here, using functional MRI to scan healthy young adults as they performed a battery of complex tasks, from first novel presentation through hours of practice.

3)However, practice is required to move from mere competency towards proficiency/expertise. Whilst transfer of prior knowledge may allow you to play “Mary had a little lamb” on the cello within days-weeks, it will require months-years of practice to play more complex pieces, like Bach’s cello suites

2) We all perform a multitude of cognitive tasks every day. Many tasks are novel, requiring rapid transfer of prior knowledge to achieve basic competency. E.g., when learning to play the cello, you may benefit from prior knowledge of sheet music or prior experience with another bowed instrument...

Excited to see our paper with @mwcole.bsky.social finally out in peer-reviewed form @natcomms.nature.com! We examine how the human brain learns new tasks and optimizes representations over practice…1/n