Minerva Fast Track Group Neural Codes of Intelligence

Human intelligence exhibits features that are unparalleled by other species or its artificial counterpart. A hallmark of human intelligence is the ability to learn quickly in face of sparse or ambiguous information in the environment and to make solid inferences that go beyond our direct experience. Specifically, humans can recognize abstract relational similarities between two situations and apply knowledge from one domain in a different one – a key to creative insight and scientific advance. How does the human brain process information to enable this inferential capacity?  

Our research group aims to gain insight in the neural coding properties underlying key aspects of human intelligence. Particularly, we are interested in how the brain forms and represents conceptual knowledge and how these representations are leveraged to guide new learning, reasoning, and novel problem solving. To address these questions, we use a combination of behavioral paradigms and non-invasive brain-imaging methods, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). We aim to contribute to a better understanding of the neural information processing properties that support intelligent behavior and shape our cognitive abilities.