PMID: 9437028Feb 14, 1998Paper

Cortical networks underlying mechanisms of time perception

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
Deborah L HarringtonR T Knight

Abstract

Precise timing of sensory information from multiple sensory streams is essential for many aspects of human perception and action. Animal and human research implicates the basal ganglia and cerebellar systems in timekeeping operations, but investigations into the role of the cerebral cortex have been limited. Individuals with focal left (LHD) or right hemisphere (RHD) lesions and control subjects performed two time perception tasks (duration perception, wherein the standard tone pair interval was 300 or 600 msec) and a frequency perception task, which controlled for deficits in time-independent processes shared by both tasks. When frequency perception deficits were controlled, only patients with RHD showed time perception deficits. Time perception competency was correlated with an independent test of switching nonspatial attention in the RHD but not the LHD patients, despite attention deficits in both groups. Lesion overlays of patients with RHD and impaired timing showed that 100% of the patients with anterior damage had lesions in premotor and prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 6, 8, 9, and 46), and 100% with posterior damage had lesions in the inferior parietal cortex. All LHD patients with normal timing had damage in these sa...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Basal Ganglia

Basal Ganglia are a group of subcortical nuclei in the brain associated with control of voluntary motor movements, procedural and habit learning, emotion, and cognition. Here is the latest research.

Attention Disorders

Attention is involved in all cognitive activities, and attention disorders are reported in patients with various neurological diseases. Here are the latest discoveries pertaining to attention disorders.