Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41102143›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

The neural basis for uncertainty processing in hierarchical decision making.

Mien Brabeeba Wang, Nancy Lynch, Michael M Halassa

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Single-cell insights into plant growth, adaptation, and evolution.Journal of integrative plant biology · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
  3. A neural mechanism for online discovery of latent contexts.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Mien Brabeeba WangComputer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Nancy LynchComputer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Michael M HalassaSchool of Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA. michael.halassa@tufts.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1386-0336

Funding

Behavioral and mechanistic dissection of a cognitive thalamo-cortical networkR01MH120118 · NIMH · TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON · PI HALASSA, MICHAEL M · 2020 to 2024
$2.5M
National Science Foundation (NSF) CCF-1810758National Science Foundation (NSF) CCR-2003830National Science Foundation (NSF) CCR-2139936NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH120118U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) p50mh132642U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) r01mh120118U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) r01mh134466
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hierarchical decisions in natural environments require processing uncertainty across multiple levels, but existing models struggle to explain how animals perform flexible, goal-directed behaviors under such conditions. Here we introduce CogLinks, biologically grounded neural architectures that combine corticostriatal circuits for reinforcement learning and frontal thalamocortical networks for executive control. Through mathematical analysis and targeted lesion, we show that these systems specialize in different forms of uncertainty, and their interaction supports hierarchical decisions by regulating efficient exploration, and strategy switching. We apply CogLinks to a computational psychiatry problem, linking neural dysfunction in schizophrenia to atypical reasoning patterns in decision making. Overall, CogLink fills an important gap in the computational landscape, providing a bridge from neural substrates to higher cognition.

Indexed as

Decision MakingAnimalsExecutive FunctionHumansModels, NeurologicalReinforcement, PsychologySchizophreniaUncertainty

Identifiers

PMID41102143
PMCPMC12531367

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.