title: "…The times they aren't a-changin'…" rTMS does not affect basic mechanisms of temporal discrimination: a pilot study with ERPs.
abstract: In time processing, the role of different cortical areas is still under investigation. Event-related potentials (ERPs) represent valuable indices of neural timing mechanisms in the millisecond-to-second domain. We used an interference approach by repetitive TMS (rTMS) on ERPs and behavioral performance to investigate the role of different cortical areas in processing basic temporal information. Ten healthy volunteers were requested to decide whether time intervals between two tones (S1-S2, probe interval) were shorter (800ms), equal to, or longer (1200ms) than a previously listened 1000-ms interval (target interval) and press different buttons accordingly. This task was performed at the baseline and immediately after a 15-min-long train of 1-Hz rTMS delivered over the supplementary motor area, right posterior parietal cortex, right superior temporal gyrus, or an occipital control area. Task accuracy, reaction time, and ERPs during (contingent negative variation, CNV) and after the presentation of probe intervals were analyzed. At the baseline, CNV amplitude was modulated by the duration of the probe interval. RTMS had no significant effect on behavioral or ERP measures. These preliminary data suggest that stimulated cortical areas are less crucially involved than other brain regions (e.g. subcortical structures) in the explicit discrimination of auditory time intervals in the range of hundreds of milliseconds.
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Firenze, Italy; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Psicologia, Area del Farmaco e Salute del Bambino (NEUROFARBA), Università degli studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giovannelli
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ragazzoni
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Battista
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tarantino
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Del Sordo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Psicologia, Area del Farmaco e Salute del Bambino (NEUROFARBA), Università degli studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marzi
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zaccara
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Neurofisiologia, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Avanzini
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Firenze, Italy; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Psicologia, Area del Farmaco e Salute del Bambino (NEUROFARBA), Università degli studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Viggiano
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: cincotta@unifi.it.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cincotta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011930:Reaction Time; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERP; contingent negative variation; timing; transcranial magnetic stimulation