Neural Basis of the Perception

and Estimation of Time

SE367 Homework 3

Previous works

Scalar timing theory(Gibbon et al.1984)

Neurophysiological model of timing(Matell &

Meck 2004)

EVIDENCE FAVORING A

COMMON TIMING MECHANISM

Work started in late

19th century

Time dependent and

time independent

sources

Temporal processing

EVIDENCE FAVORING A

UBIQUITOUS TIMING ABILITY

OF CORTICAL NETWORKS

Timing is an inherent computational

ability of every cortical circuit

Psychophysical experiments suggest

that sensory timing is local.

AN INTERMEDIATE

HYPOTHESIS

Merchant and colleagues (2008c)

NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS

OF TIME ESTIMATION:

RAMPING ACTIVITY IN THE

CORE TIMING CIRCUIT

Most studies report climbing activity

during a variety of timing tasks.

NEUROANATOMICAL AND

NEUROCHEMICAL SYSTEMS

FOR INTERVAL TIMING

The centrality of the striatum and dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in explicit timing.

Frontoparietal systems may govern attention and working memory, which interact with timekeeping processes

FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF

BRAIN CIRCUITS THAT GOVERN

INTERVAL TIMING

Pairwise subtractions of brain

activation during time discrimination

(T), pitch discrimination (P), and the

sensorimotor control (C) tasks were

conducted for each period.

ILLUSIONS OF TIME

Emerging neuroimaging research

suggests that the mechanisms may

be partially context dependent.

CONCLUSIONS

THANK YOU!