RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 GABA Predicts Time Perception
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 4364
OP 4370
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3972-13.2014
VO 34
IS 12
A1 Devin B. Terhune
A1 Sonia Russo
A1 Jamie Near
A1 Charlotte J. Stagg
A1 Roi Cohen Kadosh
YR 2014
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/12/4364.abstract
AB Our perception of time constrains our experience of the world and exerts a pivotal influence over a myriad array of cognitive and motor functions. There is emerging evidence that the perceived duration of subsecond intervals is driven by sensory-specific neural activity in human and nonhuman animals, but the mechanisms underlying individual differences in time perception remain elusive. We tested the hypothesis that elevated visual cortex GABA impairs the coding of particular visual stimuli, resulting in a dampening of visual processing and concomitant positive time-order error (relative underestimation) in the perceived duration of subsecond visual intervals. Participants completed psychophysical tasks measuring visual interval discrimination and temporal reproduction and we measured in vivo resting state GABA in visual cortex using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Time-order error selectively correlated with GABA concentrations in visual cortex, with elevated GABA associated with a rightward horizontal shift in psychometric functions, reflecting a positive time-order error (relative underestimation). These results demonstrate anatomical, neurochemical, and task specificity and suggest that visual cortex GABA contributes to individual differences in time perception.