Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Matters Arising
  • Published:

A. J. Major et al. reply

Nature Neuroscience (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

The Original Article was published on 12 December 2025

replying to C. A. Mackey et al. Nature Neuroscience https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02167-y (2025)

Our study made two contributions: (1) discovery of a ubiquitous cortical motif and (2) a tool derived from it—the frequency-based layer identification procedure (FLIP and vFLIP). Mackey et al.1 critique the tool, questioning its advantage over classic current source density (CSD) analysis, and reason backward to challenge the motif’s ubiquity. In our rebuttal, we confirm the spectrolaminar motif in diverse cortical areas using data from multiple research groups (who joined us in this rebuttal), as well as Mackey et al.’s own dataset. Additionally, we introduce vFLIP2, an improved version of our tool that addresses their comments. It reliably identified and localized the motif in our data and Mackey et al.’s data. Our findings reaffirm the motif’s ubiquity. We value Mackey et al.’s comments, which helped refine our tool.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The spectrolaminar motif is ubiquitous across datasets from different labs.
Fig. 2: vFLIP2 algorithm validation and results.

Data availability

Data from our study are available on Dryad via https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9w0vt4bnp (ref. 4).

Code availability

vFLIP2 code is available on Dryad via https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9w0vt4bnp (ref. 4).

References

  1. Mackey, C. A. et al. Is there a ubiquitous spectrolaminar motif of local field potential power across primate neocortex? Nat. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02167-y (2025).

  2. Mendoza-Halliday, D. et al. A ubiquitous spectrolaminar motif of local field potential power across the primate cortex. Nat. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01554-7 (2024).

  3. Phillips, J. M. et al. Primate thalamic nuclei select abstract rules and shape prefrontal dynamics. Neuron 113, 2014–2027 (2025).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Mendoza-Halliday, D. et al. (variable) Frequency-based layer identification procedure (FLIP and vFLIP) for spectrolaminar analysis. Dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9w0vt4bnp (2025).

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank J. Kaas for assistance with interpreting the histological data. A.M.B. acknowledges grant support from NIMH R00MH116100, NSF CAREER 2339210 and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. Y.B.S. acknowledges grant support from NIH R01MH110311 and R01NS117901. C.C. acknowledges grant support from NIH R00NS092972, NIH NS121409, NIH NS122969, NIH NS135361, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the Whitehall Foundation. E.K.M. acknowledges grant support from NIMH 1R01MH131715, The Simons Center for the Social Brain, Office of Naval Research MURI N00014-23-1-2768 and the Freedom Together Foundation. R.D. acknowledges grant support from NIH EY029666.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Alex James Major, Ahmed Abdaltawab.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Robert Desimone, Earl K. Miller, André M. Bastos, Diego Mendoza-Halliday.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Alex James Major & Earl K. Miller

  2. Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Ahmed Abdaltawab & Diego Mendoza-Halliday

  3. Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Ahmed Abdaltawab & Diego Mendoza-Halliday

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Jessica M. Phillips & Yuri B. Saalmann

  5. Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Jessica M. Phillips & Yuri B. Saalmann

  6. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Tian Wang

  7. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Eric Kenji Lee & Chandramouli Chandrasekaran

  8. Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Maxwell J. Lichtenfeld, Alexander Maier & André M. Bastos

  9. Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Maxwell J. Lichtenfeld, Alexander Maier & André M. Bastos

  10. Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Maxwell J. Lichtenfeld, Alexander Maier & André M. Bastos

  11. Surgical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Maxwell J. Lichtenfeld

  12. Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Chandramouli Chandrasekaran

  13. McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Robert Desimone

Authors
  1. Alex James Major
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ahmed Abdaltawab
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jessica M. Phillips
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tian Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Eric Kenji Lee
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Maxwell J. Lichtenfeld
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Chandramouli Chandrasekaran
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Yuri B. Saalmann
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Alexander Maier
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Robert Desimone
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Earl K. Miller
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  12. André M. Bastos
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Diego Mendoza-Halliday
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

A.J.M., A.A. and A.M.B. analyzed spectrolaminar electrophysiological data; A.A. and D.M.-H. developed the VFLIP2 algorithm; D.M.-H., R.D., A.M.B., E.K.M., J.M.P., T.W., E.K.L., C.C. and Y.B.S. provided laminar electrophysiological data; M.J.L. and A.M.B. contributed the anatomical analysis; A.M.B., D.M.-H. and E.K.M. wrote the manuscript; all authors edited the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to André M. Bastos.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Neuroscience thanks Zachary Davis and the other, anonymous, reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Text, Figs. 1–4 and Table 1.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Major, A.J., Abdaltawab, A., Phillips, J.M. et al. A. J. Major et al. reply. Nat Neurosci (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02168-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02168-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing