Cumulative blood oxygenation-level-dependent signal changes support the 'time accumulator' hypothesis.
We studied time-related changes in the blood oxygenation-level-dependent signal during a time reproduction task. Nine healthy study participants retained and reproduced stimuli of varying durations in the multi-second range. During the encoding phase of the task, activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex inversely correlated with the interval duration, while an adjacent region in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex showed positive correlation with duration in the reproduction phase. Cumulative signal increase during the reproduction phase, as found in the primary motor and supplementary motor areas, may also reflect the time-sensitive behavior. Signal accumulation in the right caudate nucleus is in agreement with presumed role of basal ganglia in time perception. These results support the 'time accumulator' hypothesis.
Jech
Robert
R
Department of Neurology, 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University, Katerinská 30, 120 00 Prague, Czech Republic. panther@tremor.anet.cz
Dusek
Petr
P
Wackermann
Jirí
J
Vymazal
Josef
J
D000328:Adult; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*
D010100:Oxygen