Age and Lifelong Cognitive Stimulation Shape the Representational Basis of Learning
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Configurations often predict outcomes that differ from those predicted by their individual elements, posing a fundamental challenge for learning. In complex environments, learners must balance competing computational priorities: whereas configural learning supports specific, context-sensitive associations at the expense of reduced generalization, elemental learning enables efficient generalization across experiences but is less effective at learning configural relationships. How aging and lifelong cognitive enrichment influence the representations deployed during learning remains unclear. Using a task that dissociates configural from elemental learning, we show that older adults rely less on configural learning and more on elemental learning relative to younger adults, indicating greater reliance on representations that generalize value across related stimuli, even when maladaptive for the task. Furthermore, higher lifelong cognitive stimulation was associated with greater reliance on elemental relative to configural learning. Together, these findings suggest that both aging and lifelong engagement in cognitively enriching activities influence how people balance the competing priorities of specificity and generalization during learning.
Authors: Daniel Oppermann Peixoto, Ian Ballard
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7164308552