Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41379999›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Building hierarchically nested structure by rapid neural sequences.

Bingjiang Lyu, Lang Qin, Xiongfei Wang, Jianxin Ou, Matthew M Nour, Nai Ding, Jia-Hong Gao, Yunzhe Liu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Building hierarchically nested structure by rapid neural sequences.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    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

8 authors.

Bingjiang Lyu *Changping Laboratory, Beijing 102206, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8554-5138
Lang Qin *School of Chinese as a Second Language, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.ORCID 0009-0000-8574-7805
Xiongfei WangDepartment of Neurosurgery, Laboratory for Clinical Medicine, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100093, China.
Jianxin OuState Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.ORCID 0000-0003-4934-3736
Matthew M NourDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-0858-6184
Nai DingKey Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.ORCID 0000-0003-3428-2723
Jia-Hong GaoChangping Laboratory, Beijing 102206, China.ORCID 0000-0002-9311-0297
Yunzhe LiuState Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.ORCID 0000-0003-0836-9403

Funding

MOE | Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities) 7100604651MOE | Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities) n/aMOST | National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 32271093MOST | National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 82327806 W2431053National science and technology innovation 2030 major program 2021ZD0200500 2021ZD0200506National science and technology innovation 2030 major program 2022ZD0205500
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hierarchically nested structures are fundamental to human cognition, enabling complex behaviors across domains including language, planning, and mathematics. However, the neural mechanisms that enable the flexible construction of these hierarchical structures are poorly understood. Here, we designed a task where participants mentally built sequences with nested, multidepth structures by recursively applying a fixed set of rules. Using magnetoencephalography, we find that the brain constructs nested hierarchies through rapid neural sequences that perform two recurring generative operations. The first operation identifies the hierarchy depth of a symbol and is associated with increased ripple-band power; while the second arranges the symbol into its correct order at that level, a process that scales with the number of depths, also positively correlated with planning time. These results reveal a fundamental neural computation for transforming sensory information into structured representations, which is essential for higher-order cognition.

Indexed as

BrainCognitionAdultFemaleHumansMagnetoencephalographyMaleYoung Adultdecodinghierarchically nested structureMEGneural computationrapid neural sequence

Identifiers

PMID41379999
PMCPMC12718372

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.