Extracting the underlying temporal structure of experience is a fundamental aspect of learning and memory that allows us to predict what is likely to happen next. Current knowledge about the neural underpinnings of this cognitive process in humans stems from functional neuroimaging research^1,2,3,4,5. As these methods lack direct access to the neuronal level, it remains unknown how this process is computed by neurons in the human brain. Here we record from single neurons in individuals who have been implanted with intracranial electrodes for clinical reasons, and show that human hippocampal and entorhinal neurons gradually modify their activity to encode the temporal structure of a complex image presentation sequence. This representation was formed rapidly, without providing specific instructions to the participants, and persisted when the prescribed experience was no longer present. Furthermore, the structure recovered from the population activity of hippocampal–entorhinal neurons closely resembled the structural graph defining the sequence, but at the same time, also reflected the probability of upcoming stimuli. Finally, learning of the sequence graph was related to spontaneous, time-compressed replay of individual neurons’ activity corresponding to previously experienced graph trajectories. These findings demonstrate that neurons in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex integrate the ‘what’ and ‘when’ information to extract durable and predictive representations of the temporal structure of human experience.

提取经验的底层时间结构是学习和记忆的一个基本方面，它使我们能够预测接下来可能发生的事情。目前关于人类这种认知过程的神经基础的知识源于功能神经影像学研究^1,2,3,4,5。由于这些方法无法直接进入神经元水平，因此尚不清楚人脑中的神经元是如何计算这个过程的。在这里，我们记录了因临床原因植入颅内电极的个体的单个神经元，并表明人类海马和内嗅神经元逐渐改变其活动以编码复杂图像呈现序列的时间结构。这种表征是迅速形成的，没有向参与者提供具体指示，并且在规定的体验不再存在时仍然存在。此外，从海马-内嗅神经元的群体活动中恢复的结构与定义序列的结构图非常相似，但同时也反映了即将到来的刺激的可能性。最后，序列图的学习与单个神经元活动的自发、时间压缩重放有关，这些活动对应于先前经历的图轨迹。这些发现表明，海马体和内嗅皮层中的神经元整合了“什么”和“何时”信息，以提取人类经验时间结构的持久和预测性表示。