Enhancing temporal discrimination performance by orienting attention in time

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Blaschke ◽  
Sven Ritzkowski ◽  
Jutta Stahl
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance

scholarly journals Effects of stimulus and task structure on temporal perceptual learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rannie Xu ◽  
Russell M. Church ◽  
Yuka Sasaki ◽  
Takeo Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Interval Representation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Temporal Intervals ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Temporal Learning ◽  
And Task

AbstractOur ability to discriminate temporal intervals can be improved with practice. This learning is generally thought to reflect an enhancement in the representation of a trained interval, which leads to interval-specific improvements in temporal discrimination. In the present study, we asked whether temporal learning is further constrained by context-specific factors dictated through the trained stimulus and task structure. Two groups of participants were trained using a single-interval auditory discrimination task over 5 days. Training intervals were either one of eight predetermined values (FI group), or random from trial to trial (RI group). Before and after the training period, we measured discrimination performance using an untrained two-interval temporal comparison task. Our results revealed a selective improvement in the FI group, but not the RI group. However, this learning did not generalize between the trained and untrained tasks. These results highlight the sensitivity of TPL to stimulus and task structure, suggesting that mechanisms of temporal learning rely on processes beyond changes in interval representation.

Variable Foreperiods and Temporal Discrimination

2003 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Grondin ◽  
Thomas Rammsayer
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Temporal Information ◽  
Temporal Information Processing ◽  
Visual Markers ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Base Duration ◽  
Perceived Duration

Temporal judgements are often accounted for by a single-clock hypothesis. The output of such a clock is reported to depend on the allocation of attention. In the present series of experiments, the influence of attention on temporal information processing is investigated by systematic variations of the period preceding brief empty intervals to be judged. Two indicators of timing performance, temporal sensitivity, reflecting discrimination performance, and perceived duration served as dependent variables. Foreperiods ranged from 0.3 to 0.6 s in Experiments 1 to 4. When the foreperiod varied randomly from trial to trial, perceived duration was longer with increasing length of foreperiod (Experiments 1 and 3 with brief auditory markers and Experiment 4 with brief visual markers), an effect that disappeared with no trial-to-trial variations (Experiment 2). Longer foreperiods also enhanced performance on temporal discrimination of auditory empty intervals with a base duration of 100 ms (Experiments 1 and 5), whereas discrimination performance was unaffected for auditory intervals with a base duration of 500 ms (Experiment 3). The variable-foreperiod effect on perceived duration also held when foreperiods ranged from 0.6 to 1.5 s (Experiments 5—7). Findings suggest that foreperiods appear to effectively modulate attention mechanisms necessary for temporal information processing. However, alternative explanations such as assimilation or compatibility effects cannot be totally discarded.

scholarly journals Sequential Temporal Discrimination in Humans and Mice

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filiz Çoşkun ◽  
Dilara Berkay ◽  
Zeynep Ceyda Sayalı ◽  
Fuat Balcı
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Endogenous Timing ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Probabilistic Information ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
Timing Uncertainty

Previous studies showed that humans and mice can maximize their rewards in two alternative temporal discrimination tasks by incorporating exogenous probabilities and endogenous timing uncertainty into their decisions. The current study investigated if the probabilistic relations modulated the temporal discrimination performance in scenarios with more than two temporal options. In order to address this question, we tested humans (Experiment 1) and mice (Experiment 2) in the dual-switch task, which required subjects to discriminate three time intervals (short, medium, and long durations) in a sequential fashion. The latencies of switches from short to medium and from medium to long option were the main units of analysis. The results revealed that the timing of switches between the first two options (short-to-medium) were sensitive to probabilistic information in both humans and mice. However, mice but not humans adapted the timing of their subsequent switches between the last two options (medium-to-long) based on the probabilistic information associated with these latter options. These results point at a suboptimal tendency in the temporal decisions of humans with multiple options.

Testing the representation of time in reference memory in the bisection and the generalization task: The utility of a developmental approach

2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 820-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria De Lurdes Delgado ◽  
Sylvie Droit-Volet
Keyword(s):  
Coefficient Of Variation ◽  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Reference Memory ◽  
Developmental Approach ◽  
Fixed Condition ◽  
Variable Condition ◽  
Representation Of Time

This study examined the effect of the variability of representation of durations in reference memory on temporal discrimination performance in children aged 5 and 8 years as well as in adults using a bisection (Experiment 1) and a generalization task (Experiment 2). In each task, the participants were familiarized before the blocks of tested trials with either the same referent duration values (fixed condition) or a distribution of referent duration values, with a mean equal to the referent durations used in the fixed condition and a .20 coefficient of variation (variable condition). The results showed that the sensitivity to duration was lower in the variable than in the fixed condition in the children and, to a lesser extent, in the adults. The modelling of the data indicated that this effect was due to the increase in the variability of the representation of durations in reference memory, but also to changes in the decisional processes.

scholarly journals Using Adaptive Psychophysics to Identify the Neural Network Reset Time in Sub-second Interval Timing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Sadibolova ◽  
Stella Sun ◽  
Devin B. Terhune
Keyword(s):  
Interstimulus Interval ◽  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Interval Timing ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Collective State ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Neuronal Populations ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Reset Time

AbstractState dependent network models of sub-second interval timing propose that duration is encoded in states of neuronal populations that need to reset prior to a novel timing operation in order to maintain optimal timing performance. Previous research has shown that the approximate boundary of this reset interval can be inferred by varying the interstimulus interval between two to-be-timed intervals. However, the estimated boundary of this reset interval is broad (250-500ms) and remains underspecified with implications for the characteristics of state dependent network dynamics subserving interval timing. Here we probed the interval specificity of this reset boundary by manipulating the interstimulus interval between standard and comparison intervals in two sub-second auditory duration discrimination tasks (100 and 200ms) and a control (pitch) discrimination task using adaptive psychophysics. We found that discrimination thresholds improved with the introduction of a 333ms interstimulus interval relative to a 250ms interstimulus interval in both duration discrimination tasks, but not in the control task. This effect corroborates previous findings of a breakpoint in the discrimination performance for sub-second stimulus interval pairs as a function of an incremental interstimulus delay but more precisely localizes the minimal interstimulus delay range. These results suggest that state dependent networks subserving sub-second timing require approximately 250-333ms for the network to reset in order to maintain optimal interval timing.New & NoteworthyThe state-dependent-network model considers interval timing as an intrinsic ability of neuronal populations to track the temporal evolution of their collective state. However, the time-dependent nature of neuronal properties imposes constraints on a maximum encodable interval and on the processing of intervals that are presented before the network resets to its baseline state. Investigating temporal discrimination thresholds as a function of variable inter-stimulus-intervals, we showed that the network reset time is between 250 and 333ms.

Temporal Discrimination Learning Based on Feature-Target Intervals

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. James Kehoe ◽  
Kristin G. Boesenberg ◽  
Natasha White ◽  
Benjamin Carr ◽  
Gabrielle Weidemann
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Feature Target
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