The Neural Representation of Sequences: From Transition Probabilities to Algebraic Patterns and Linguistic Trees

A sequence of images, sounds, or words can be stored at several levels of detail, from specific items and their timing to abstract structure. We propose a taxonomy of five distinct cerebral mechanisms for sequence coding: transitions and timing knowledge, chunking, ordinal knowledge, algebraic patterns, and nested tree structures. In each case, we review the available experimental paradigms and list the behavioral and neural signatures of the systems involved. Tree structures require a specific recursive neural code, as yet unidentified by electrophysiology, possibly unique to humans, and which may explain the singularity of human language and cognition. Dehaene et al. review the brain mechanisms of sequence representation. They propose five increasingly abstract levels of representation: transitions and timing, chunking, order, algebraic patterns, and nested trees. They argue that tree structures may be unique to humans.