Distinct developmental trajectories for explicit and implicit timing

When emotion and time meet from human and rodent perspectives: a central role for the amygdala?

Initiated by a long stay of Valérie Doyère in the laboratory of Joseph LeDoux, a Franco-American collaborative group was formed around the topic of emotion and time perception in a comparative perspective between humans and non-human animals. Here, we discuss results from our studies on the mechanisms underlying time distortion under 2 conditions, timing of a threatening stimulus and timing of a neutral stimulus in the context of fear, with insights from neurodevelopment. Although the type of temporal distortion depends on the experimental situations, in both humans and rodents a high-arousal emotion automatically triggers acceleration of an "internal clock" system, an effect that may rely on the early maturing amygdala. Our studies, particularly in humans, also point to the role of attention and self-awareness in regulating the effect of fear on timing, relying on the prefrontal cortex, a late maturing structure. Thus, in line with LeDoux, while the amygdala may process all characteristics of events (including time) necessary to quickly trigger appropriate survival behaviors, some type of time distortions may rely on higher-order processing, some specific to humans. The extent of the network underlying threat-related time distortions remains to be explored, with species comparisons being a promising means of investigation.

Correlates of Impaired Timing Abilities in Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

This review aimed at summarizing the literature evidence on clinical, cognitive, and neurobiological correlates of impaired timing abilities in schizophrenia (SCZ). Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycInfo by looking at correlates between timing abilities and either symptom severity, cognition, and neurobiological data (imaging and electroencephalography) in individuals with SCZ, without restrictions on study design. A total of 45 articles were selected: associations were identified between impaired timing performance and positive, negative, and disorganization symptoms, as well as with executive functioning, working memory, and attention. Timing impairments were associated with altered motor coordination neural circuits. Despite high methodological and clinical heterogeneity, timing dysfunction may be associated with the symptom severity and cognitive impairments in SCZ. Further studies are needed to clarify the pathophysiology of this association and offer new therapeutic targets.

Towards a neurodevelopmental cognitive perspective of temporal processing

The ability to organize and memorize the unfolding of events over time is a fundamental feature of cognition, which develops concurrently with the maturation of the brain. Nonetheless, how temporal processing evolves across the lifetime as well as the links with the underlying neural substrates remains unclear. Here, we intend to retrace the main developmental stages of brain structure, function, and cognition linked to the emergence of timing abilities. This neurodevelopmental perspective aims to untangle the puzzling trajectory of temporal processing aspects across the lifetime, paving the way to novel neuropsychological assessments and cognitive rehabilitation strategies.

Memory capacity as the core mechanism of the development of space-time interferences in children

This study investigated the development of spatiotemporal perceptual interactions in 5-to-7 years old children. Participants reproduced the temporal and spatial interval between sequentially presented visual stimuli. The time and spacing between stimuli were experimentally manipulated. In addition, cognitive capacities were assessed using neuropsychological tests. Results revealed that starting at 5 years old, children exhibited spatial biases in their time estimations and temporal biases in their spatial estimations, pointing at space-time interference. In line with developmental improvement of temporal and spatial abilities, these spatiotemporal biases decreased with age. Importantly, short-term memory capacity was a predictor of space-time interference pointing to shared cognitive mechanisms between time and space processing. Our results support the symmetrical hypothesis that proposes a common neurocognitive mechanism for processing time and space.

Young adults and multisensory time perception: Visual and auditory pathways in comparison

The brain continuously encodes information about time, but how sensorial channels interact to achieve a stable representation of such ubiquitous information still needs to be determined. According to recent research, children show a potential interference in multisensory conditions, leading to a trade-off between two senses (sight and audition) when considering time-perception tasks. This study aimed to examine how healthy young adults behave when performing a time-perception task. In Experiment 1, we tested the effects of temporary sensory deprivation on both visual and auditory senses in a group of young adults. In Experiment 2, we compared the temporal performances of young adults in the auditory modality with those of two samples of children (sighted and sighted but blindfolded) selected from a previous study. Statistically significant results emerged when comparing the two pathways: young adults overestimated and showed a higher sensitivity to time in the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. Restricting visual and auditory input did not affect their time sensitivity. Moreover, children were more accurate at estimating time than young adults after a transient visual deprivation. This implies that as we mature, sensory deprivation does not constitute a benefit to time perception, and supports the hypothesis of a calibration process between senses with age. However, more research is needed to determine how this calibration process affects the developmental trajectories of time perception.

Effect of tempo on the age-related changes in temporal expectation driven by rhythms

Temporal expectation refers to the capacity to allocate resources at a particular point in time, enabling us to enhance our behavior performance. Empirical evidence indicates that, among younger adults, temporal expectation can be driven by rhythm (i.e., regular sequences of stimuli). However, whether there are age-related changes in rhythm-based temporal expectation has not been clearly established. Furthermore, whether tempo can influence the relationship between rhythm-based temporal expectation and aging remains unexplored. To address these questions, both younger and older participants took part in a rhythm-based temporal expectation task, engaging three distinct tempos: 600 ms (fast), 1800 ms (moderate), or 3000 ms (slow). The results demonstrated that temporal expectation effects (i.e., participants exhibited significantly faster responses during the regular trials compared to the irregular trials) were observed in both the younger and older participants under the moderate tempo condition. However, in the fast and slow tempo conditions, the temporal expectation effects were solely observed in the younger participants. These findings revealed that rhythm-based temporal expectations can be preserved during aging but within a specific tempo range. When the tempo falls within the range of either being too fast or too slow, it can manifest age-related declines in temporal expectations driven by rhythms.

On the nonlinearity of the foreperiod effect

One of the frequently employed tasks within the implicit timing paradigm is the foreperiod task. The foreperiod is the time interval spanning from the presentation of a warning signal to the appearance of a target stimulus, during which reaction time trajectory follows time uncertainty. While the typical approach in analyzing foreperiod effects is based on linear approximations, the uncertainty in the estimation of time, expressed by the Weber fraction, implies a nonlinear trend. In the present study, we analyzed the variable foreperiod reaction times from a relatively large sample (n = 109). We found that the linear regression on reaction times and log-transformed reaction times poorly fitted the foreperiod data. However, a nonlinear regression based on an exponential decay function with three distinctive parameters provided the best fit. We discussed the inferential hazards of a simplistic linear approach and demonstrated how a nonlinear formulation can create new opportunities for studies in implicit timing research, which were previously impossible.

The contribution of the supplementary motor area to explicit and implicit timing: A high-definition transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (HD-tRNS) study

It is becoming increasingly accepted that timing tasks, and underlying temporal processes, can be partitioned on the basis of whether they require an explicit or implicit temporal judgement. Most neuroimaging studies of timing associated explicit timing tasks with activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA). However, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies perturbing SMA functioning across explicit timing tasks have generally reported null effects, thus failing to causally link SMA to explicit timing. The present study probed the involvement of SMA in both explicit and implicit timing tasks within a single experiment and using High-Definition transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (HD-tRNS), a previously less used technique in studies of the SMA. Participants performed two tasks that comprised the same stimulus presentation but differed in the received task instructions, which might or might not require explicit temporal judgments. Results showed a significant HD-tRNS-induced shift of perceived durations (i.e., overestimation) in the explicit timing task, whereas there was no modulation of implicit timing by HD-tRNS. Overall, these results provide initial non-invasive brain stimulation evidence on the contribution of the SMA to explicit and implicit timing tasks.

Slow motion bias: Exploring the relation between time overestimation and increased perceived intentionality

Recent research on time perception has revealed that actions which are replayed in slow motion are perceived to take longer and rated to be more intentional (e.g., foul plays). Interestingly, the bias on duration estimations seems to disappear when information on the slow motion factor (i.e., the degree the video was slowed down) was provided. Here, we scrutinize the question whether also the intentionality bias disappears when explicit information about the slow motion factor is provided. To this end, two groups watched the same video clips, all displaying foul situations in a basketball match, in different video speeds. While the uninformed group saw the videos without further information, the informed group received additional information about the current slow motion factor. This study replicated the overestimation of original duration with increasing slow motion and indicated that this effect might be reduced when information about the slow motion factor is provided. However, despite generally lower intentionality ratings in the informed group, video speed information was not able to reduce the rise in intentionality ratings with increasing slow motion. Potential reasons and open questions regarding the nature and mechanisms behind these perceptual temporal biases (e.g., different time processing systems) are discussed.

Be there on time: Spatial-temporal regularities guide young children's attention in dynamic environments

Children's ability to benefit from spatiotemporal regularities to detect goal-relevant targets was tested in a dynamic, extended context. Young adults and children (from a low-deprivation area school in the United Kingdom; N = 80; 5-6 years; 39 female; ethics approval did not permit individual-level race/ethnicity surveying) completed a dynamic visual-search task. Targets and distractors faded in and out of a display over seconds. Half of the targets appeared at predictable times and locations. Search performance in children was poorer overall. Nevertheless, they benefitted equivalently from spatiotemporal regularities, detecting more predictable than unpredictable targets. Children's benefits from predictions correlated positively with their attention. The study brings ecological validity to the study of attentional guidance in children, revealing striking behavioral benefits of dynamic experience-based predictions.

Implicit Versus Explicit Timing-Separate or Shared Mechanisms?

Time implicitly shapes cognition, but time is also explicitly represented, for instance, in the form of durations. Parsimoniously, the brain could use the same mechanisms for implicit and explicit timing. Yet, the evidence has been equivocal, revealing both joint versus separate signatures of timing. Here, we directly compared implicit and explicit timing using magnetoencephalography, whose temporal resolution allows investigating the different stages of the timing processes. Implicit temporal predictability was induced in an auditory paradigm by a manipulation of the foreperiod. Participants received two consecutive task instructions: discriminate pitch (indirect measure of implicit timing) or duration (direct measure of explicit timing). The results show that the human brain efficiently extracts implicit temporal statistics of sensory environments, to enhance the behavioral and neural responses to auditory stimuli, but that those temporal predictions did not improve explicit timing. In both tasks, attentional orienting in time during predictive foreperiods was indexed by an increase in alpha power over visual and parietal areas. Furthermore, pretarget induced beta power in sensorimotor and parietal areas increased during implicit compared to explicit timing, in line with the suggested role for beta oscillations in temporal prediction. Interestingly, no distinct neural dynamics emerged when participants explicitly paid attention to time, compared to implicit timing. Our work thus indicates that implicit timing shapes the behavioral and sensory response in an automatic way and is reflected in oscillatory neural dynamics, whereas the translation of implicit temporal statistics to explicit durations remains somewhat inconclusive, possibly because of the more abstract nature of this task.

Explicit and implicit timing in older adults: Dissociable associations with age and cognitive decline

This study aimed to test two common explanations for the general finding of age-related changes in the performance of timing tasks within the millisecond-to-second range intervals. The first explanation is that older adults have a real difficulty in temporal processing as compared to younger adults. The second explanation is that older adults perform poorly on timing tasks because of their reduced cognitive control functions. These explanations have been mostly contrasted in explicit timing tasks that overtly require participants to process interval durations. Fewer studies have instead focused on implicit timing tasks, where no explicit instructions to process time are provided. Moreover, the investigation of both explicit and implicit timing in older adults has been restricted so far to healthy older participants. Here, a large sample (N = 85) comprising not only healthy but also pathological older adults completed explicit (time bisection) and implicit (foreperiod) timing tasks within a single session. Participants’ age and cognitive decline, measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), were used as continuous variables to explain performance on explicit and implicit timing tasks. Results for the explicit timing task showed a flatter psychometric curve with increasing age or decreasing MMSE scores, pointing to a deficit at the level of cognitive control functions rather than of temporal processing. By contrast, for the implicit timing task, a decrease in the MMSE scores was associated with a reduced foreperiod effect, an index of implicit time processing. Overall, these findings extend previous studies on explicit and implicit timing in healthy aged samples by dissociating between age and cognitive decline (in the normal-to-pathological continuum) in older adults.

Audiovisual synchrony detection for fluent speech in early childhood: An eye-tracking study

During childhood, the ability to detect audiovisual synchrony gradually sharpens for simple stimuli such as flashbeeps and single syllables. However, little is known about how children perceive synchrony for natural and continuous speech. This study investigated young children's gaze patterns while they were watching movies of two identical speakers telling stories side by side. Only one speaker's lip movements matched the voices and the other one either led or lagged behind the soundtrack by 600 ms. Children aged 3-6 years (n = 94, 52.13% males) showed an overall preference for the synchronous speaker, with no age-related changes in synchrony-detection sensitivity as indicated by similar gaze patterns across ages. However, viewing time to the synchronous speech was significantly longer in the auditory-leading (AL) condition compared with that in the visual-leading (VL) condition, suggesting asymmetric sensitivities for AL versus VL asynchrony have already been established in early childhood. When further examining gaze patterns on dynamic faces, we found that more attention focused on the mouth region was an adaptive strategy to read visual speech signals and thus associated with increased viewing time of the synchronous videos. Attention to detail, one dimension of autistic traits featured by local processing, has been found to be correlated with worse performances in speech synchrony processing. These findings extended previous research by showing the development of speech synchrony perception in young children, and may have implications for clinical populations (e.g., autism) with impaired multisensory integration.

Rhythmic abilities in humans and non-human animals: a review and recommendations from a methodological perspective

Rhythmic behaviour is ubiquitous in both human and non-human animals, but it is unclear whether the cognitive mechanisms underlying the specific rhythmic behaviours observed in different species are related. Laboratory experiments combined with highly controlled stimuli and tasks can be very effective in probing the cognitive architecture underlying rhythmic abilities. Rhythmic abilities have been examined in the laboratory with explicit and implicit perception tasks, and with production tasks, such as sensorimotor synchronization, with stimuli ranging from isochronous sequences of artificial sounds to human music. Here, we provide an overview of experimental findings on rhythmic abilities in human and non-human animals, while critically considering the wide variety of paradigms used. We identify several gaps in what is known about rhythmic abilities. Many bird species have been tested on rhythm perception, but research on rhythm production abilities in the same birds is lacking. By contrast, research in mammals has primarily focused on rhythm production rather than perception. Many experiments also do not differentiate between possible components of rhythmic abilities, such as processing of single temporal intervals, rhythmic patterns, a regular beat or hierarchical metrical structures. For future research, we suggest a careful choice of paradigm to aid cross-species comparisons, and a critical consideration of the multifaceted abilities that underlie rhythmic behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue 'Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology'.

Minimal interplay between explicit knowledge, dynamics of learning and temporal expectations in different, complex uni- and multisensory contexts

While temporal expectations (TE) generally improve reactions to temporally predictable events, it remains unknown how the learning of temporal regularities (one time point more likely than another time point) and explicit knowledge about temporal regularities contribute to performance improvements; and whether any contributions generalise across modalities. Here, participants discriminated the frequency of diverging auditory, visual or audio-visual targets embedded in auditory, visual or audio-visual distractor sequences. Temporal regularities were manipulated run-wise (early vs. late target within sequence). Behavioural performance (accuracy, RT) plus measures from a computational learning model all suggest that learning of temporal regularities occurred but did not generalise across modalities, and that dynamics of learning (size of TE effect across runs) and explicit knowledge have little to no effect on the strength of TE. Remarkably, explicit knowledge affects performance-if at all-in a context-dependent manner: Only under complex task regimes (here, unknown target modality) might it partially help to resolve response conflict while it is lowering performance in less complex environments.

Simultaneous time processing in children and adults: When attention predicts temporal interference effects

Children from 5 to 8 years of age, as well as adults, performed a temporal reproduction task in both a solo-timing condition and a multi-timing condition, with different durations presented simultaneously. In the multi-timing condition, all durations were processed because the participants did not know in advance which stimulus needed to be judged. In a first experiment, two or three durations were presented with a synchrony of their onset. In a second experiment, two durations were presented simultaneously with asynchrony of their offset, different lengths of the concurrent duration, and different presentation orders. In addition, the participants' cognitive abilities in terms of selective attention, as well as short-term and working memory, were assessed with different neuropsychological tests. The results of both experiments showed that children and adults alike were able to process multiple durations simultaneously. However, the simultaneous presentation of different durations generated a temporal interference effect in children and adults, resulting in longer and more variable time estimates. This temporal interference effect was nevertheless higher in children due to their limited attention capacities. Therefore, a developmental improvement in the ability to process different durations simultaneously is related to the cognitive development of attention capacities.

Prestimulus inhibition of eye movements reflects temporal expectation rather than time estimation

Eye movements are inhibited prior to the occurrence of temporally predictable events. This 'oculomotor inhibition effect' has been demonstrated with various tasks and modalities. Specifically, it was shown that when intervals between cue and target are fixed, saccade rate prior to the target is lower than when they are varied. However, it is still an open question whether this effect is linked to temporal expectation to the predictable target, or to the duration estimation of the interval preceding it. Here, we examined this question in 20 participants while they performed an implicit temporal expectation and an explicit time estimation task. In each trial, following cue onset, two consecutive grating patches were presented, each preceded by an interval. Temporal expectation was manipulated by setting the first interval duration to be either fixed or varied within each block. Participants were requested to compare either the durations of the two intervals (time estimation), or the tilts of the two grating patches (temporal expectation). Saccade rate, measured prior to the first grating, was lower in the fixed relative to the varied condition of both tasks. This suggests that the inhibition effect is elicited by target predictability and indicates that it is linked to temporal expectation, rather than to time estimation processes. Additionally, this finding suggests that the oculomotor inhibition is independent of motor readiness, as it was elicited even when no response was required. We conclude that the prestimulus oculomotor inhibition effect can be used as a marker of temporal expectation, and discuss its potential underlying mechanisms.

The internal representation of temporal orienting: A temporal pulse-accumulation and attentional-gating-based account

Timing can be processed explicitly or implicitly. Temporal orienting is a typical implicit timing through which we can anticipate and prepare an optimized response to forthcoming events. It is, however, not yet clear whether mechanisms such as temporal-pulse accumulation and attentional gating (more attention, more accumulated temporal pulses) underly the internal representations of temporal orienting, as in explicit timing. To clarify this, a dual-task paradigm, consisting of a temporal orienting and an interference task, was adopted. Consistent with the temporal-pulse-accumulation and attentional-gating model, reaction times to the target detection of temporal orienting increased as the interference stimuli were temporally closer to the target, i.e., a location effect for temporal orienting. This effect is likely due to attention being diverted away from temporal orienting to monitor the occurrence of the interference stimuli for a longer time, resulting in greater temporal pulse loss and less accurate temporal orienting for conditions with later interference stimuli. The temporal-pulse-accumulation aspect in temporal orienting received further support by taking an explicit duration reproduction (containing a second temporal-pulse accumulation) as the interference task. On the one hand, temporal orienting became less accurate with increased temporal-pulse-accumulation overlaps between the dual tasks; on the other hand, two-way (one for temporal orienting and the other for duration reproduction), rather than one-way, location effects were observed, implying processing conflicts between the two temporal-pulse accumulations. Taken together, these results suggest that implicit and explicit timing may share common mechanisms upon internal temporal representations.

Older adults preserve accuracy but not precision in explicit and implicit rhythmic timing

Aging brings with it several forms of neurophysiological and cognitive deterioration, but whether a decline in temporal processing is part of the aging process is unclear. The current study investigated whether this timing deficit has a cause independent of those of memory and attention using rhythmic stimuli that reduce the demand for these higher cognitive functions. In Study 1, participants took part in two rhythmic timing tasks: explicit and implicit. Participants had to distinguish regular from irregular sequences while processing temporal information explicitly or implicitly. Results showed that while the accuracy in the implicit timing task was preserved, older adults had more noise in their performance in the explicit and implicit tasks. In Study 2, participants took part in a dual-implicit task to explore whether the performance of temporal tasks differed with increasing task difficulty. We found that increasing task difficulty magnifies age-related differences.

The developmental profile of temporal binding: From childhood to adulthood

Temporal binding refers to a phenomenon whereby the time interval between a cause and its effect is perceived as shorter than the same interval separating two unrelated events. We examined the developmental profile of this phenomenon by comparing the performance of groups of children (aged 6–7, 7–8, and 9–10 years) and adults on a novel interval estimation task. In Experiment 1, participants made judgements about the time interval between (a) their button press and a rocket launch, and (b) a non-causal predictive signal and rocket launch. In Experiment 2, an additional causal condition was included in which participants made judgements about the interval between an experimenter’s button press and the launch of a rocket. Temporal binding was demonstrated consistently and did not change in magnitude with age: estimates of delay were shorter in causal contexts for both adults and children. In addition, the magnitude of the binding effect was greater when participants themselves were the cause of an outcome compared with when they were mere spectators. This suggests that although causality underlies the binding effect, intentional action may modulate its magnitude. Again, this was true of both adults and children. Taken together, these results are the first to suggest that the binding effect is present and developmentally constant from childhood into adulthood.

The developing predictive brain: How implicit temporal expectancy induced by local and global prediction shapes action preparation across development

Human behavior is continuously shaped not just as a function of explicitly responding to external world events but also by internal biases implicitly driven by the capacity to extract statistics from complex sensory patterns. Two possible sources of predictability engaged to generate and update temporal expectancy are the implicit extraction of either local or global statistical contingencies in the events' temporal structure. In the context of action preparation the local prediction has been reported to be stable from the age of 6. However, there is no evidence about how the ability to extract and use global statistical patterns to establish temporal expectancy changes across development. Here we used a new, child-friendly reaction time task purposely designed to investigate how local (within-trial expectancy bias) and global (between-block expectancy bias) prediction interplay to generate temporal expectancy and consequently shape action preparation in young (5- to 6-year-old), middle-aged (7- to 8-year-old) and old (9- to 10-year-old) typically developing children. We found that while local temporal prediction showed stable developmental trajectories, the ability to use a global rule to action preparation in terms of both accuracy and speed becomes stable after the age of seven. These findings are discussed by adopting a neuroconstructivist-inspired theoretical account, according to which the developmental constraints on learning from hierarchically nested levels of sensory complexity may constitute a necessary prerequisite for mastering complex domains.

Explicit and Implicit Timing of Short Time Intervals: Using the Same Method

Up until now, there has been no study conducted in the field of time perception using very short intervals for a direct comparison between implicit and explicit timing tasks in order to uncover plausibly different underlying mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare human time estimation during implicit and explicit timing tasks with short intervals and the same method. A total of 81 adults were divided into three groups and completed two tasks with one of three different intervals: 500, 1,000, and 2,000 ms. The results revealed an overestimation for all three intervals of the implicit timing task, while participants overestimated 500 ms but underestimated 1,000 and 2,000 ms intervals of the explicit timing task. Moreover, explicit time estimation was more precise than implicit time estimation. We observed the opposite pattern as compared to a few previous studies with long intervals: Short intervals were perceived longer in the implicit timing task as compared to the explicit timing task. We concluded that nontemporal contents represent passing time during the implicit timing task but unlike temporal dimension during the explicit timing task. Therefore, even the same method of measurement led to a different performance in implicit and explicit timing tasks.

Age-related changes in duration production for familiar actions

The present study dealt with an aspect of temporal cognition that is rarely discussed in the literature: the ability to estimate the duration of familiar actions. In everyday life, we often have to process both very short durations (e.g., when we are driving), but we also have to deal with actions or events that last for several minutes or even hours (e.g., watching a film). The aim of our study was to examine whether young children aged six and 9 years and adults are able to estimate the time usually taken by various familiar actions to perform using a production task. More precisely, they were successively presented with photographs of familiar actions that usually take more (e.g., blown a balloon up) or less (e.g., blow a candle out) time to perform. As soon as a photograph was presented on the screen, they have to start estimating the time taken to perform the depicted action and press the space bar when they think that this time has elapsed. Results showed that the 6-year-olds failed to produce longer durations for the long action category than for the short one, unlike the older children and adults. Moreover, for the short action category, increasingly short durations were produced with age. Only the adults produced different durations for different actions belonging to the same category (i.e., short or long). These results are discussed in relation to the development of an event-based system of time that can be used to solve duration tasks. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Young children understand the relative durations of daily actions. There is not any mapping between duration words and approximate durations in young children. Young children have great difficulty in understanding that the same duration can be shared by different actions. What the present study adds? There is a clear improvement with age in the ability to produce the durations of familiar actions. Children can use the event-based system of time they develop to successfully perform duration tasks.

The beneficial effect of synchronized action on motor and perceptual timing in children

We examined the role of action in motor and perceptual timing across development. Adults and children aged 5 or 8 years old learned the duration of a rhythmic interval with or without concurrent action. We compared the effects of sensorimotor versus visual learning on subsequent timing behaviour in three different tasks: rhythm reproduction (Experiment 1), rhythm discrimination (Experiment 2) and interval discrimination (Experiment 3). Sensorimotor learning consisted of sensorimotor synchronization (tapping) to an isochronous visual rhythmic stimulus (ISI = 800 ms), whereas visual learning consisted of simply observing this rhythmic stimulus. Results confirmed our hypothesis that synchronized action during learning systematically benefitted subsequent timing performance, particularly for younger children. Action-related improvements in accuracy were observed for both motor and perceptual timing in 5 years olds and for perceptual timing in the two older age groups. Benefits on perceptual timing tasks indicate that action shapes the cognitive representation of interval duration. Moreover, correlations with neuropsychological scores indicated that while timing performance in the visual learning condition depended on motor and memory capacity, sensorimotor learning facilitated an accurate representation of time independently of individual differences in motor and memory skill. Overall, our findings support the idea that action helps children to construct an independent and flexible representation of time, which leads to coupled sensorimotor coding for action and time.

Development of sensorimotor synchronization abilities: Motor and cognitive components

The aim of the present study was to examine both the development of sensorimotor synchronization in children in the age range from 5 to 8 years and the involvement of motor and cognitive capacities. Children performed a spontaneous motor tempo task and a synchronization-continuation task using an external auditory stimulus presented at three different inter-stimulus intervals: 500, 700, and 900 ms. Their motor and cognitive abilities (short-term memory, working memory, and attention) were also assessed with various neuropsychological tests. The results showed some developmental changes in synchronization capacities, with the regularity of tapping and the ability to slow down the tapping rate improving with age. The age-related differences in tapping were nevertheless greater in the continuation phase than in the synchronization phase. In addition, the development of motor capacities explained the age-related changes in performance for the synchronization phase and the continuation phase, although working memory capacities were also involved in the interindividual differences in performance in the continuation phase. The continuation phase is thus more cognitively demanding than the synchronization phase. Consequently, the improvement in sensorimotor synchronization during childhood is related to motor development in the case of synchronization but also to cognitive development with regard to the reproduction and maintenance of the rhythm in memory.

Explicit and implicit timing in aging

Explicit and implicit measures of timing were compared between young and older participants. In both tasks, participants were initially familiarized with a reference interval by responding to the second of two beeps separated by a fixed interval. During the subsequent testing phase, this inter-stimulus interval was variable. In the explicit task, participants were instructed to judge interval duration, whereas in the implicit task they were told to respond as quickly as possible to the second beep. Cognitive abilities were assessed with neuropsychological tests. Results showed that in both explicit and implicit timing tasks, temporal performance peaked around the reference interval and did not differ between young and older participants. This indicates an accurate representation of duration that did not decline with normal aging. However, some age-related differences were observed in performance depending on the task used. In the explicit timing task, the variability of duration judgments was greater in older than young participants, though this was directly related to older participants' lower attentional capacity. In the implicit timing task, young participants' reaction times (RTs) were slower to targets appearing either earlier or later than the trained interval. Conversely, while older participants RTs were also slowed by early targets, their RTs to late targets were as fast as those to targets appearing at the trained interval. We hypothesize that with age, and irrespective of cognitive ability, there is increasing reliance on temporal information conveyed by the probability of target appearance as a function of elapsing time ("hazard function") than that conveyed by the statistical likelihood of previously experienced temporal associations.

A divergence of sub- and supra-second timing abilities in childhood and its relation to academic achievement

Work with adult humans and nonhuman animals provides evidence that the processing of sub-second (<1 s) and supra-second (>1 s) durations are modulated via distinct cognitive and neural systems; however, few studies have explored the development of these separate systems. Moreover, recent research has identified a link between basic timing abilities and academic achievement, yet it is unclear whether sub-second and supra-second temporal processing may play independent roles in this relation. In the current study, we assessed the development of sub- and supra-second timing across middle childhood and examined how each ability may relate to academic achievement. Child participants (6- to 8-year-olds, n = 111) completed reading and math assessments and a temporal discrimination task that included comparisons in both the sub- and supra-second ranges. Results revealed that younger children performed comparably across the sub- and supra-second ranges, whereas 8-year-olds and adults (n = 72) were relatively better at discriminating durations in the supra-second range. Although discrimination performance in these distinct duration ranges did not uniquely predict math or reading achievement, overall timing abilities were related to math, but not reading, when controlling for age. Together, these data provide evidence for a divergence in timing abilities across sub- and supra-second durations emerging around 8 years of age; however, at least during this stage of development, the relation between children's timing and math achievement is unrelated to this divergence.

Intertwined Facets of Subjective Time

For decades, researchers in the behavioral sciences have studied how humans judge time accurately. Now they are looking more closely at the conditions in which they fail to do so and why, with the aim of testing the limits of a potential internal timing system (i.e., an internal clock). Recent behavioral studies have thus focused on time distortions, in particular those caused by emotion. They have also begun to examine the awareness of the passage of time and its relation with the perception of durations in different temporal ranges, from a few seconds to several minutes.

Predictive timing disturbance is a precise marker of schizophrenia

Timing disturbances have being proposed as a key component of schizophrenia pathogenesis. However, the contribution of cognitive impairment to such disorders has not been clarified. Here, we investigated duration estimation and predictive timing in 30 patients with DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia (SZ) compared to 30 healthy controls (HC). Duration estimation was examined in a temporal and colour discrimination task, fully controlled for working memory (WM) and attention requirements, and by more traditional temporal production and temporal bisection tasks. Predictive timing was measured in a temporal and spatial orienting of attention task. Expectations about stimulus onset (temporal condition) or location (spatial condition) were induced by valid and invalid symbolic cues. Results showed that discrimination of temporal and colour stimulus attributes was equally impaired in SZ. This, taken with the positive correlation between temporal bisection performance and neuropsychological measures of WM, indicates that duration estimation impairments in SZ are underpinned by WM dysfunction. Conversely, we found dissociation in temporal and spatial predictive ability in SZ. Unlike controls, patients were selectively unperturbed by events appearing at an unexpected moment in time, though were perturbed by targets appearing at an unexpected location. Moreover, patients were able to generate temporal expectations more implicitly, as their performance was influenced by the predictive nature of the flow of time itself. Our findings shed new light on the debate over the specificity of timing distortions in SZ, providing evidence that predictive timing is a precise marker of SZ, more sensitive than duration estimation, serving as a valid heuristic for studying the pathophysiology of the disorder.

Dissociating Explicit and Implicit Timing in Parkinson's Disease Patients: Evidence from Bisection and Foreperiod Tasks

A consistent body of literature reported that Parkinson's disease (PD) is marked by severe deficits in temporal processing. However, the exact nature of timing problems in PD patients is still elusive. In particular, what remains unclear is whether the temporal dysfunction observed in PD patients regards explicit and/or implicit timing. Explicit timing tasks require participants to attend to the duration of the stimulus, whereas in implicit timing tasks no explicit instruction to process time is received but time still affects performance. In the present study, we investigated temporal ability in PD by comparing 20 PD participants and 20 control participants in both explicit and implicit timing tasks. Specifically, we used a time bisection task to investigate explicit timing and a foreperiod task for implicit timing. Moreover, this is the first study investigating sequential effects in PD participants. Results showed preserved temporal ability in PD participants in the implicit timing task only (i.e., normal foreperiod and sequential effects). By contrast, PD participants failed in the explicit timing task as they displayed shorter perceived durations and higher variability compared to controls. Overall, the dissociation reported here supports the idea that timing can be differentiated according to whether it is explicitly or implicitly processed, and that PD participants are selectively impaired in the explicit processing of time.

Sensitivity to Audiovisual Temporal Asynchrony in Children With a History of Specific Language Impairment and Their Peers With Typical Development: A Replication and Follow-Up Study

PURPOSE

Earlier, my colleagues and I showed that children with a history of specific language impairment (H-SLI) are significantly less able to detect audiovisual asynchrony compared with children with typical development (TD; Kaganovich & Schumaker, 2014). Here, I first replicate this finding in a new group of children with H-SLI and TD and then examine a relationship among audiovisual function, attention skills, and language in a combined pool of children.

METHOD

The stimuli were a pure tone and an explosion-shaped figure. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) varied from 0-500 ms. Children pressed 1 button for perceived synchrony and another for asynchrony. I measured the number of synchronous perceptions at each SOA and calculated children's temporal binding windows. I, then, conducted multiple regressions to determine if audiovisual processing and attention can predict language skills.

RESULTS

As in the earlier study, children with H-SLI perceived asynchrony significantly less frequently than children with TD at SOAs of 400-500 ms. Their temporal binding windows were also larger. Temporal precision and attention predicted 23%-37% of children's language ability.

CONCLUSIONS

Audiovisual temporal processing is impaired in children with H-SLI. The degree of this impairment is a predictor of language skills. Once understood, the mechanisms underlying this deficit may become a new focus for language remediation.

Emotion and Implicit Timing: The Arousal Effect

This study tested the effects of emotion on implicit time judgment. The participants did not receive any overt temporal instructions. They were simply trained to respond as quickly as possible after a response signal, which was separated from a warning signal by a reference temporal interval. In the testing phase, the inter-signal interval was shorter, equal or longer than the reference interval and was filled by emotional pictures (EP) of different arousal levels: high, moderate, and low. The results showed a U-shaped curve of reaction time plotted against the interval duration, indicating an implicit processing of time. However, this RT-curve was shifted toward the left, with a significantly lower peak time for the high-arousal than for the low-arousal EP. This emotional time distortion in an implicit timing task suggests an automatic effect of emotion on the internal clock rate.

Isochronous Sequential Presentation Helps Children Orient Their Attention in Time

Knowing when an event is likely to occur allows attentional resources to be oriented toward that moment in time, enhancing processing of the event. We previously found that children (mean age 11 years) are unable to use endogenous temporal cues to orient attention in time, despite being able to use endogenous spatial cues (arrows) to orient attention in space. Arrow cues, however, may have proved beneficial by engaging exogenous (automatic), as well as endogenous (voluntary), orienting mechanisms. We therefore conducted two studies in which the exogenous properties of visual temporal cues were increased, to examine whether this helped children orient their attention in time. In the first study, the location of an imperative target was predicted by the direction of a left or right spatial arrow cue while its onset was predicted by the relative duration of a short or long temporal cue. To minimize the influence of rhythmic entrainment in the temporal condition, the foreperiod (500 ms/1100 ms) was deliberately chosen so as not to precisely match the duration of the temporal cue (100 ms/400 ms). Targets appeared either at cued locations/onset times (valid trials) or at unexpected locations/onset times (invalid trials). Adults’ response times were significantly slower for invalid versus valid trials, in both spatial and temporal domains. Despite being slowed by invalid spatial cues, children (mean age 10.7 years) were unperturbed by invalid temporal cues, suggesting that these duration-based temporal cues did not help them orient attention in time. In the second study, we enhanced the exogenous properties of temporal cues further, by presenting multiple temporal cues in an isochronous (rhythmic) sequence. Again, to minimize automatic entrainment, target onset did not match the isochronous interval. Children (mean age 11.4 years), as well as adults, were now significantly slowed by invalid cues in both the temporal and spatial dimension. The sequential, as opposed to single, presentation of temporal cues therefore helped children to orient their attention in time. We suggest that the exogenous properties of sequential presentation provide a temporal scaffold that supports the additional attentional and mnemonic requirements of temporal, as compared to spatial, processing.

Emotion and Implicit Timing

This study examined the effects of emotion on implicit timing. In the implicit timing task used, the participants did not receive any temporal instructions. Instead they were simply asked and trained to press a key as quickly as possible after a stimulus (response stimulus) that was separated from a preceding stimulus by a given temporal interval (reference interval duration). However, in the testing phase, the interval duration was the reference interval duration or a shorter or longer interval duration. In addition, the participants attended two sessions: a first baseline session in which no stimulus was presented during the inter-stimulus intervals, and a second emotional session in which emotional facial expressions (angry, neutral and sad facial expressions) were presented during these intervals. Results showed faster RTs for interval durations close to the reference duration in both the baseline and the emotional conditions and yielded a U-shaped curve. This suggests that implicit processing of time persists in emotional contexts. In addition, the RT was faster for the facial expressions of anger than for those of neutrality and sadness. However, the U-shaped RT curve did not peak clearly at a shorter interval duration for the angry than for the other facial expressions. This lack of time distortion in an implicit timing task in response to arousing emotional stimuli questions the idea of an automatic speeding-up of the interval clock system involved in the representation of time.