The hired postdoctoral researcher will mainly work on WP2, i.e., on the development of new formalisms and methods to apply to higher order interaction patterns identified in the data analyzed in WP1. The project aims to build a theoretical and data analysis framework to demonstrate the role of higher-order interactions (HOIs) in human brain networks supporting causal learning. The Hinteract project includes three scientific work packages (WPs): WP1 focuses on developing an informational theoretical approach to infer task-related HOIs from neural time series and characterizing HOIs supporting causal learning using MEG and SEEG data. WP2 involves developing a network science formalism to analyze the structure and dynamics of functional HOIs patterns and characterizing the hierarchical organization of learning-related HOIs. WP3 is about compiling and sharing neuroinformatics tools developed in the project and making them interoperable with the EBRAINS infrastructure.

In the past few years, there has been growing evidence that the basic ability for relational generalization starts in early infancy, with 3-month-olds seeming to learn relational abstractions with little training. Further, work with toddlers seem to suggest that relational generalizations are no more difficult than those based on objects, and they can readily consider both simultaneously. Likewise, causal learning research with adults suggests that people infer causal relationships at multiple levels of abstraction simultaneously as they learn about novel causal systems. These findings all appear counter to theories of concept learning that posit when concepts are first learned they tend to be concrete (tied to specific contexts and features) and abstraction proceeds incrementally as learners encounter more examples. The current talk will not question the veracity of any of these findings but will present several others from my and others’ research on relational learning that suggests that when the perceptual or conceptual content becomes more complex, patterns of incremental abstraction re-emerge. Further, the specific contexts and task parameters that support or hinder abstraction reveal the underlying cognitive processes. I will then consider whether the models that posit simultaneous, immediate learning at multiple levels of abstraction can accommodate these more complex patterns.