NeuroSynth: A Biologically Inspired Continual Reinforcement Learning Architecture for Mitigating Catastrophic Forgetting

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems often perform well on isolated tasks but struggle under continual learning conditions, where training on new tasks can overwrite previously acquired knowledge, a failure mode known as catastrophic forgetting. Biological learning systems reduce this interference through complementary memory processes involving rapid hippocampal encoding and slower cortical consolidation. This study introduces NeuroSynth, a brain-inspired continual reinforcement learning architecture designed to mitigate catastrophic forgetting through a dual-pathway consolidation mechanism. NeuroSynth separates rapid task acquisition from long-term retention using distinct "plan" and "habit" pathways combined with replay and knowledge distillation. NeuroSynth was evaluated against Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) and Elastic Weight Consolidation (EWC) across three sequential navigation tasks with changing goal locations in a non-revisitation continual learning setting. Across six independent seeds, NeuroSynth preserved substantially more early-task knowledge than PPO after sequential training, achieving 18.00% Task A success rate compared to 0.33% for PPO (p = 0.014929, Cohen's d = 1.49) and 35.33% Task B success rate compared to 0.00% for PPO (p = 0.002376, Cohen's d = 2.31). NeuroSynth also demonstrated higher final Task C performance than EWC, achieving 9.00% compared to 2.00% (p = 0.226643, Cohen's d = 0.56), indicating a moderate but not statistically significant advantage. These findings suggest that biologically inspired consolidation mechanisms may improve the stability-plasticity balance in continual reinforcement learning systems.