Abstract
Time perception in the second-to-minutes range is crucial for fundamental cognitive processes like decision making, rate calculation, and planning. We used a striatal beat frequency (SBF) computational model to predict the response of an interval timing network to intruders, such as gaps in conditioning stimulus (CS), or distracters presented during the uninterrupted CS. We found that, depending on the strength of the input provided to neural oscillators by the intruder, the SBF model can either ignore it or reset timing. The significant delays in timing produced by emotionally charged distracters were numerically simulated by a strong phase resetting of all neural oscillators involved in the SBF network for the entire duration of the evoked response. The combined effect of emotional distracter and pharmacological manipulations was modeled in our SBF model by modulating the firing frequencies of neural oscillators after they are released from inhibition due to emotional distracters.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: SI: Associative and Temporal Learning.
Highlights
Interval timing refers to the capability of perceiving and using the passage of time in the seconds-to-minutes range
We showed that the striatal beat frequency (SBF)-ML model produces both precise and scalar interval timing in the presence of variability of model’s parameters such as the memorized criterion time and the firing frequencies of the oscillators
We simulated a peak interval (PI) procedure with a visual conditioning stimulus (CS) combined with an auditory distracter that over-reset the oscillators of the SBF-ML model, as follows: To address the over-resetting of about 30s following the presentation of a fear-evoking auditory stimulus that only lasted 5s, we hypothesized that the long-lasting freezing behavior (Matthews et al 2012) is mirrored in the SBF-ML network by a strong, longlasting inhibition of the oscillators
Summary
Interval timing refers to the capability of perceiving and using the passage of time in the seconds-to-minutes range.
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