Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience

Humans can recognize and leverage abstract knowledge about tasks in order to build new knowledge. For example, learning how to bake a cake can benefit from general knowledge about cooking. However, major individual differences in this capacity have been observed across several studies. Here, we present preliminary results (N=202) from a large-scale study of the factor structure underlying the learning and use of abstract task structure for flexible behavior. These tasks appeared to depend on a combination of general task ability (‘g’), memory strategy and recall performance. However, no common set of factors held for all measures. These results provide insight into the source of individual differences in these behaviors and indicate a need to reconsider the constructs measured by these tasks and the neural and cognitive processes involved.