Inducing Cortical Plasticity to Manipulate and Consolidate Subjective Time Interval Production

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroscience of Time Perception

Background:

• Subjective time perception can be altered by mental states and diseases.
• The mechanisms underlying the consolidation of altered time production are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the manipulation of subjective duration production through memory consolidation.
• To modulate neural plasticity to influence time perception.

Main Methods:

• False feedback training was used to alter duration production.
• Quadripulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (QPS) was applied to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and primary motor cortex (M1) to enhance neural plasticity.
• The time course of recovery from altered duration production was examined with and without QPS.

Main Results:

• Altered duration production naturally recovered to baseline within two hours.
• QPS over the right DLPFC, but not TPJ or M1, maintained altered duration production for four hours.
• The effect of QPS over the right DLPFC persisted for at least one week.

Conclusions:

• Learned alterations in duration production decay over several hours.
• QPS over the right DLPFC facilitates the consolidation of newly learned duration production, extending its persistence.