Choosing the speed of dynamic mental simulations

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• The brain maintains internal representations of the environment.
• These representations update with external sensory changes or internal simulations.
• The mechanism controlling the speed of internal dynamic simulations is unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the brain controls the speed of dynamic mental simulations.
• To differentiate between common rate control and separate rate control theories.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on perceptual representations and mental simulations.
• Analysis of preliminary evidence from prediction motion experiments.
• Consideration of neuroimaging findings related to timing and dorsal striatum function.

Main Results:

• Preliminary evidence supports the common rate control theory for dynamic mental simulations.
• Local predictive mechanisms may account for short sensory gaps (<200ms).
• The dorsal striatum is suggested as a potential neural substrate for this rate control.

Conclusions:

• The brain likely employs a common rate control mechanism for internal dynamic simulations.
• This controller may be linked to velocity stores in eye movement models or pacemakers in cognitive timing.
• The dorsal striatum's core timing system is implicated in controlling simulation speed.