Time perception

About: Time perception is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1918 publications have been published within this topic receiving 87020 citations.

Time flies: investigating the connection between intrinsic motivation and the experience of time.

Abstract: The present study investigated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and the subjective experience of time passing. The Work Preference Inventory, which measures trait intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, was administered to 75 undergraduate participants. Measures of time awareness, time estimation, checking of time, and perceived speed of time were collected using the experience sampling method. Participants carried electronic schedulers for five days and completed questionnaires each time the scheduler sounded (eight times per day). Results showed that higher intrinsic motivation was associated with checking and thinking about time less often, a subjective experience of time passing more quickly, and more of a tendency to lose track of time. The experience of time awareness was accompanied by a subjective sense of time moving slowly, a tendency to overestimate the time, and a more negative affective experience. These findings suggest that time perception is an important dimension of motivational experience.

Differential Encoding of Time by Prefrontal and Striatal Network Dynamics

Abstract: Telling time is fundamental to many forms of learning and behavior, including the anticipation of rewarding events. While the neural mechanisms underlying timing remain unknown, computational models have proposed that the brain represents time in the dynamics of neural networks. Consistent with this hypothesis, dynamically changing patterns of neural activity in a number of brain areas—including the striatum and cortex—has been shown to encode elapsed time. To date, however, no studies have explicitly quantified and contrasted how well different areas encode time, by recording large numbers of units simultaneously from more than one area. Here we performed large-scale extracellular recordings in the striatum and orbitofrontal cortex of mice that learned the temporal relationship between a stimulus and a reward, and reported their response with anticipatory licking. We used a machine-learning algorithm to quantify how well populations of neurons encoded elapsed time from stimulus onset. Both the striatal and cortical networks encoded time, but the striatal network outperformed the orbitofrontal cortex—a finding replicated both in simultaneously and non-simultaneously recorded cortical-striatal data sets. The striatal network was also more reliable in predicting when the animals would lick, up to around one second before the actual lick occurred. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that temporal information is encoded in a widely distributed manner throughout multiple brain areas, but that the striatum may have a privileged role in timing because it has a more accurate “clock” as it integrates information across multiple cortical areas. Significance Statement: The neural representation of time is thought to be distributed across multiple functionally specialized brain structures, including the striatum and cortex. However, until now the neural code for time has not been quantitatively compared between these areas. We carried out large-scale recordings in the striatum and orbitofrontal cortex of mice trained on a stimulus-reward association task involving a delay period, and used a machine-learning algorithm to quantify how well populations of simultaneously recorded neurons encoded elapsed time from stimulus onset. We found that while both areas encoded time, the striatum consistently outperformed the orbitofrontal cortex. These results suggest that the striatum may refine the code for time by integrating information from multiple inputs.

Role of the olivo-cerebellar system in timing

Abstract: Timing has been proposed as a basic function of the cerebellar cortex (particularly the climbing fiber afferents and their sole source, the inferior olive) that explains the contribution of the cerebellum to both motor control and nonmotor cognitive functions. However, whether the olivo-cerebellar system mediates time perception without motor behavior remains controversial. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to dissociate the neural correlates of the perceptual from the motor aspects of timing. The results show activation of multiple areas within the cerebellar cortex during both perception and motor performance of temporal sequences. The results further show that the inferior olive was activated only when subjects perceived the temporal sequences without motor activity. This finding is most consistent with electrophysiological studies showing decreased responsiveness of the inferior olivary neurons to sensory input during expected, self-produced movement. Our results suggest that the primary role of the inferior olive and the climbing fiber system in timing is the encoding of temporal information independent of motor behavior.