Integration of behavior and timing: Anatomically separate systems or distributed processing?

With the recent development of powerful methods to study brain-behavior relations, the study of interval timing has rapidly shifted from primarily behavioral analyses elucidating the psychological constructs of timing to investigations aimed at identifying the anatomical and physiological underpinnings of the interval timing system. This transition to the study of the biological substrates of interval timing is well timed to stimulate further model development. Because the various interval timing models are already extremely accurate at predicting the behavioral data (Church and Broadbent, 1991; Gibbon, 1977; Killeen and Fetterman, 1988; Staddon and Higa, 1999), much of their attractiveness is associated with their philosophical approach (i.e., behaviorism vs. cognitivism), rather than their predictive accuracy. Although these models fare quite well at explaining behavioral data, because of their fundamental differences, they do not provide us with an unbiased framework from which to search for the neural mechanisms of interval timing. As such, we believe that a theory-free model of interval timing would be valuable. Such a general timing model is a much needed “place to hang our hats” when searching for the neural processes associated with timing and time perception.

Duke Scholars

Author Miguel Angelo L. Nicolelis Neurobiology