Curriculum Learning: sequential acquisition of task complexity enhances neuronal discriminability

Curriculum Learning (CL) is a strategy where concepts with increasing complexity are acquired sequentially. Despite its widespread application, its putative neural mechanisms are poorly understood. In this study, using a multi-staged Go/No-Go auditory discrimination paradigm for mice, we show that CL improves and accelerates learning in a unidirectional way. By combining behavioral data with in vivo electrophysiological recordings of the auditory cortex, we demonstrate that neuronal discriminability is enhanced with sequential training. This improvement suggests that CL involves a convergence of common discriminable features in the auditory stimuli shared across tasks of different complexity. Our findings uncover specific properties of CL at the level of neuronal discriminability, distinguishing it from other forms of learning strategies.