Temporal orienting of attention: An fNIRS study on the illusion of "a watched pot never boils".
The present study used a single-task paradigm in which participants received guidance to focus more attention (waiting for someone) on the temporal intervals in the "waiting" condition and to stay relaxed in the control condition. The reported time was longer in the waiting condition than in the control condition. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure simultaneously the activation levels of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for each condition. Greater oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) activation in the waiting condition was observed compared with the control condition, whilst deoxyhemoglobin data showed no difference between the two conditions. The gradual changes in oxy-Hb in the DLPFC in increments of 100 ms yielded further insights into the role of this region in the "watched pot never boils" phenomenon.
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Ke
K
Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Wen-Jing
WJ
Yan
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yu-Hsin
YH
Chen
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xiaolan
X
Fu
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
D010108:Oxyhemoglobins
DLPFC; fNIRS; single-task paradigm; temporal orienting of attention; time estimation