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Accumulation of neural activity in the posterior insula encodes the passage of time
Open accessAbstract
A number of studies have examined the perception of time with durations ranging from milliseconds to a few seconds, however the neural basis of these processes are still poorly understood and the neural substrates underlying the perception of multiple-second intervals are unknown. Here we present evidence of neural systems activity in circumscribed areas of the human brain involved in the encoding of intervals with durations of 9 and 18s in a temporal reproduction task using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the encoding there was greater activation in more posterior parts of the medial frontal and insular cortex whereas the reproduction phase involved more anterior parts of these brain structures. Intriguingly, activation curves over time show an accumulating pattern of neural activity, which peaks at the end of the interval within bilateral posterior insula and superior temporal cortex when individuals are presented with 9- and 18-s tone intervals. This is consistent with an accumulator-type activity, which encodes duration in the multiple seconds range. Given the close connection between the dorsal posterior insula and ascending internal body signals, we suggest that the accumulation of physiological changes in body states constitutes our experience of time. This is the first time that an accumulation function in the posterior insula is detected that might be correlated with the encoding of time intervals.
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“The insular neural activity has been shown to encode time duration [80][81][82].”
From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [82]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Wittmann, M., Simmons, A. N., Aron, J. L., & Paulus, M. P.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wittmann, Marc
- Venue
- Neuropsychologia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-08
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 3110-3120
- ISSN
- 0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2933788
- OpenAlex
- W2117396449
- Cited by
- 203
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 4.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
- Nature Precedings (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Nature Precedings (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Drug Abuse (R03DA020687-01A1)
- Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind (KIBM 07-33)
- Center of Excellence in Stress and Mental Health
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Keywords
- time perception, posterior insula, accumulator model, temporal reproduction, medial frontal cortex, superior temporal cortex, body signals
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxygen, Reaction Time, Time Factors, Time Perception, Young Adult
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