diff --git a/trax/layers/attention.py b/trax/layers/attention.py
index 820117bc8..8831fb1d0 100644
--- a/trax/layers/attention.py
+++ b/trax/layers/attention.py
@@ -195,23 +195,34 @@ def forward_with_state(self, x, weights, state, rng):
     del weights
     n_heads, dropout, mode = self._n_heads, self._dropout, self._mode
     q, k, v, mask = x
+    batch_size = q.shape[0]
     d_feature = q.shape[-1]
+
     assert d_feature % n_heads == 0
     d_head = d_feature // n_heads
-    nbatch = jnp.shape(q)[0]
-    # nbatch, seqlen, d_feature --> nbatch, n_heads, seqlen, d_head
-    def SplitHeads(x):
-      return jnp.transpose(
-          jnp.reshape(x, (nbatch, -1, n_heads, d_head)), (0, 2, 1, 3))
-    # nbatch, n_heads, seqlen, d_head --> nbatch, seqlen, d_feature
-    def JoinHeads(x):  # pylint: disable=invalid-name
-      return jnp.reshape(
-          jnp.transpose(x, (0, 2, 1, 3)), (nbatch, -1, n_heads * d_head))
-    # Split heads, dot-product attention, rejoin heads.
-    res = JoinHeads(
-        DotProductAttention(
-            SplitHeads(q), SplitHeads(k), SplitHeads(v), mask,
-            dropout=dropout, mode=mode, rng=rng))
+
+    def _split_into_heads(x):
+      """Reshapes tensors to prepare for multi-headed computation."""
+      # (b_size, seqlen, d_feature) --> (b_size, n_heads, seqlen, d_head)
+      x = jnp.reshape(x, (batch_size, -1, n_heads, d_head))
+      x = jnp.transpose(x, (0, 2, 1, 3))
+      return x
+
+    def _merge_heads(x):
+      """Undoes splitting, post multi-headed computation."""
+      # (b_size, n_heads, seqlen, d_head) --> (b_size, seqlen, d_feature)
+      x = jnp.transpose(x, (0, 2, 1, 3))
+      x = jnp.reshape(x, (batch_size, -1, n_heads * d_head))
+      return x
+
+    res = _merge_heads(
+        DotProductAttention(_split_into_heads(q),
+                            _split_into_heads(k),
+                            _split_into_heads(v),
+                            mask,
+                            dropout=dropout,
+                            mode=mode,
+                            rng=rng))
     return (res, mask), state  # Keep the mask.
 
 
@@ -360,31 +371,38 @@ def CausalAttention(d_feature, n_heads=1, dropout=0.0, mode='train'):
   assert d_feature % n_heads == 0
   d_head = d_feature // n_heads
 
-  def compute_attention_heads(x):
-    batch_size = x.shape[0]
-    seqlen = x.shape[1]
-    # n_batch, seqlen, n_heads*d_head -> n_batch, seqlen, n_heads, d_head
-    x = jnp.reshape(x, (batch_size, seqlen, n_heads, d_head))
-    # n_batch, seqlen, n_heads, d_head -> n_batch, n_heads, seqlen, d_head
-    x = jnp.transpose(x, (0, 2, 1, 3))
-    # n_batch, n_heads, seqlen, d_head -> n_batch*n_heads, seqlen, d_head
-    return jnp.reshape(x, (-1, seqlen, d_head))
+  def _split_into_heads():
+    """Layer that reshapes tensors to prepare for multi-headed computation."""
+    def f(x):
+      batch_size = x.shape[0]
+      seq_len = x.shape[1]
 
-  ComputeAttentionHeads = Fn('ComputeAttentionHeads', compute_attention_heads)
+      # (b_size, seq_len, d_feature) --> (b_size*n_heads, seq_len, d_head)
+      x = jnp.reshape(x, (batch_size, seq_len, n_heads, d_head))
+      x = jnp.transpose(x, (0, 2, 1, 3))
+      x = jnp.reshape(x, (-1, seq_len, d_head))
+      return x
+    return Fn('SplitIntoHeads', f)
 
-  def compute_attention_output(x):
-    seqlen = x.shape[1]
-    x = jnp.reshape(x, (-1, n_heads, seqlen, d_head))
-    x = jnp.transpose(x, (0, 2, 1, 3))  # -> n_batch, seqlen, n_heads, d_head
-    return jnp.reshape(x, (-1, seqlen, n_heads * d_head))
+  def _merge_heads():
+    """Layer that undoes splitting, post multi-headed computation."""
+    def f(x):
+      seq_len = x.shape[1]
+
+      # (b_size*n_heads, seq_len, d_head) --> (b_size, seq_len, d_feature)
+      x = jnp.reshape(x, (-1, n_heads, seq_len, d_head))
+      x = jnp.transpose(x, (0, 2, 1, 3))
+      x = jnp.reshape(x, (-1, seq_len, n_heads * d_head))
+      return x
+    return Fn('MergeHeads', f)
 
   return cb.Serial(
       cb.Branch(
-          [core.Dense(d_feature), ComputeAttentionHeads],
-          [core.Dense(d_feature), ComputeAttentionHeads],
-          [core.Dense(d_feature), ComputeAttentionHeads],
+          [core.Dense(d_feature), _split_into_heads()],
+          [core.Dense(d_feature), _split_into_heads()],
+          [core.Dense(d_feature), _split_into_heads()],
       ),
       DotProductCausalAttention(dropout=dropout, mode=mode),
-      Fn('ComputeAttentionOutput', compute_attention_output),
-      core.Dense(d_feature)
+      _merge_heads(),
+      core.Dense(d_feature),
   )