Extend the desiderata framework beyond world-state representations

Determine whether and how the paper’s information-theoretic framework of sensitivity, specificity, invariance, and functionality can be extended to apply to research on neural representations that do not primarily carry information about the actual state of the world (such as representations of goals, motor commands, mental simulations, planning, and imagery).

Background

The paper formalizes four desiderata—sensitivity, specificity, invariance, and functionality—for evaluating evidence that a neural response represents a feature, primarily focusing on representations that carry information about the state of the world (past, present, or future).

Section 5.7 acknowledges that not all representations fit this paradigm (e.g., goals/desires, motor commands, and mental simulations) and discusses how, in principle, the desiderata could be reinterpreted for such cases. Despite illustrative examples (e.g., planning-related neural sequences and uncertainty representations), the authors explicitly note that a more thorough account of extending the framework to these non-paradigmatic cases remains to be developed.