Ausaf Ahmed Farooqui

The paper investigates how extended cognitive episodes are controlled, finding that distinct cortical activity patterns emerge at episode beginnings and completions, suggesting a global neural program involved in task execution.

The paper shows that initiating complex tasks deactivates frontoparietal regions and reduces pupil size, contrasting with activation during task execution.

The paper shows that task-related deactivation is not limited to default mode regions but occurs in regions not involved in task execution, linked to hierarchical cognitive programs.

The paper shows that hierarchical cognition can occur without sequence representations in working memory, by construing behavior as task episodes.

The paper shows that conscious and attended perception does not necessarily activate fronto-parietal regions when decoupled from goal completion, challenging theories linking these regions to conscious awareness.