The neural correlates of temporal judgments in the duration bisection task

作者：Lindbergh Cutter A; Kieffaber Paul D^*

来源：Neuropsychologia, 2013, 51(2): 191-196.

DOI：10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.09.001

• Duration bisection
• ERP
• Interval timing
• Temporal memory

Decision processes related to interval timing are commonly examined using the duration bisection procedure-a well-established timekeeping task in which participants make judgments about whether a series of %26quot;probes%26quot; are closer in duration to a %26quot;short%26quot; anchor duration or a %26quot;long%26quot; anchor duration. The specific information used during bisection categorization has been a subject of debate. Recent research involving the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) suggests that the %26quot;short%26quot; anchor duration and a value near the geometric mean (GM) of the short and long anchors are among the critical pieces of information used during bisection categorization judgements. The present study examined a corollary of this claim, that memory comparison and decision-making processes related to the temporal judgments are completed prior to probe offset when probe durations are perceived to be %26quot;long;%26quot; testing the hypotheses that (I) response times would be significantly longer for %26quot;short%26quot; relative to %26quot;long%26quot; categorizations and that (2) there would be significant differences in ERPs time-locked to probe offset between probes judged to be %26quot;short%26quot; and %26quot;long.%26quot; Both of these predictions were realized in the results, providing strong support for the assertion that a value near the GM-likely the point of subjective equality (PSE)-is among the critical information used during bisection categorization judgments..

• 出版日期2013-1