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Abstract

Processing of complex environments is greatly facilitated by the formation and use of concepts. Concepts represent combinations of features shared by similar entities and allow generalisation from limited experience to novel situations. Recent research suggests that concept formation is supported by cognitive maps within the hippocampal-entorhinal system that encode multiple relationships between experiences in a common representational format for flexible access. In a behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, we investigate if this map-like representation of concepts supports the retrieval of abstracted information to guide inference. In a novel behavioral paradigm, participants are first trained to categorize a set of exemplars based on the ratio of their two features. Subsequently, they encounter exemplars that exhibit only one of the features and are instructed to complete the missing feature according to their category label. Here we find that feature inferences are attracted more towards the category center (i.e. prototype) than to the nearest experienced exemplars, suggesting the retrieval of an abstract representation. In an ongoing functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examine to what degree the hippocampal system, in concert with visual areas, represents prototypes for feature inference. By decoding the inferred features and feature-combinations from brain patterns, we will test if each category’s unseen prototype is formed during categorization and allows feature inference. This project can help us to understand the relationship between abstract representations and cognitive maps and the role of pattern completion in concept formation.