Dissecting Neural Responses to Temporal Prediction, Attention, and Memory: Effects of Reward Learning and Interoception on Time Perception.
Temporal prediction (TP) is needed to anticipate future events and is essential for survival. Our sense of time is modulated by emotional and interoceptive (corporal) states that are hypothesized to rely on a dopamine (DA)-modulated "internal clock" in the basal ganglia. However, the neurobiological substrates for TP in the human brain have not been identified. We tested the hypothesis that TP involves DA striato-cortical pathways, and that accurate responses are reinforcing in themselves and activate the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed the involvement of the NAc and anterior insula in the temporal precision of the responses, and of the ventral tegmental area in error processing. Moreover, NAc showed higher activation for successful than for unsuccessful trials, indicating that accurate TP per se is rewarding. Inasmuch as activation of the NAc is associated with drug-induced addictive behaviors, its activation by accurate TP could help explain why video games that rely on TP can trigger compulsive behaviors.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Dardo
D
Tomasi
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Gene-Jack
GJ
Wang
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Yana
Y
Studentsova
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Nora D
ND
Volkow
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065812:Interoception / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D012201:Reward; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
D004298:Dopamine
dopamine; fMRI; reward; timekeeping