The Effect of Dopamine Depletion and Brain Stimulation on Temporal Binding: Possible Dissociations between Event Timing and Interval Duration.

• Grant number: 24/05153-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Cognitive Psychology
• Principal Investigator: André Mascioli Cravo
• Grantee: Gustavo Brito de Azevedo
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Establishing cause-and-effect relationships between events is extremely important for survival. Closely linked to this ability is temporal perception, in a way that temporal relationships between events allow causality to be inferred. Interestingly, the inverse modulation can occur: knowing that two events are causally related to each other makes the time between them seem shorter than it is, an effect termed temporal binding. Over the years, several methods have been used to assess the effect, including those that recruit different temporal skills, such as, for example, saying "when" (event timing) and saying "for how long" (interval timing). In addition to this conceptual difference, there seems to be a distinction in the brain regions involved with both skills and the temporal binding effect could serve as an indirect measure of these differences. Furthermore, the effect appears closely linked to the dopaminergic system, as shown in studies with schizophrenic and Parkinson's patients. Here, we propose three experiments to investigate whether and how these different abilities are related: In the first, we intend to assess participants across experimental sessions utilising interval (temporal estimation and reproduction) and event timing (Libet Clock and response mapping) tasks, alongside exploring the potential within- and between-tasks and sessions variations in the magnitude of the temporal binding effect; in the second experiment, we will do a pharmacological manipulation to alter the availability of dopamine in the brain. Lastly, in the third experiment, we will perform stimulation of the left angular gyrus, which seems to have a relation with the sense of agency, and we will observe its effect on the temporal binding. Combined, these experiments will help understand how different timing abilities relate to each other and whether it is possible to causally interfere selectively with these abilities.