title: Midbrain dopamine neurons control judgment of time.
abstract: Our sense of time is far from constant. For instance, time flies when we are having fun, and it slows to a trickle when we are bored. Midbrain dopamine neurons have been implicated in variable time estimation. However, a direct link between signals carried by dopamine neurons and temporal judgments is lacking. We measured and manipulated the activity of dopamine neurons as mice judged the duration of time intervals. We found that pharmacogenetic suppression of dopamine neurons decreased behavioral sensitivity to time and that dopamine neurons encoded information about trial-to-trial variability in time estimates. Last, we found that transient activation or inhibition of dopamine neurons was sufficient to slow down or speed up time estimation, respectively. Dopamine neuron activity thus reflects and can directly control the judgment of time.
authors.affiliation: Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal. bassam.atallah@gmail.com joe.paton@neuro.fchampalimaud.org.
authors.forename: Bassam V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Atallah
authors.affiliation: Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal. bassam.atallah@gmail.com joe.paton@neuro.fchampalimaud.org.
authors.forename: Joseph J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Paton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003024:Clozapine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D003463:Cues; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D019426:Integrases; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D000071185:Pharmacogenomic Testing; D013998:Time Perception / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases; D003024:Clozapine; C079149:clozapine N-oxide