One clock? Investigating the Neuro-Cognitive Mechanisms of Implicit and Explicit Timing

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jonas Obleser, since 1/2018
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology ; Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280740764

Timing is a core cognitive function that is still not well understood. This research proposal addresses the important question whether different timing processes, i.e. implicit and explicit timing rely on the same cognitive and neural mechanisms. Implicit timing refers to situations in which an accurate estimate of time is required, e.g. a timed reaction, but the estimate of time is not expressed overtly . Explicit timing refers to situations in which an overt time estimate is expressed, e.g. in absolute units (seconds), or as a comparison (long/short).Three experiments are planned to examine timing mechanisms from different angles. Experiment I addresses the cognitive and neural mechanisms (measured with electroencephalography, EEG) of implicit timing, by manipulating temporal predictability. Experiment II directly compares implicit and explicit timing by testing whether temporal predictability modulatesbehavioural measures similarly in both tasks. Furthermore, Experiment II targets the neuroanatomical sources of implicit and explicit timing processes by measuring magnetoencephalography (MEG). Experiment III compares implicit and explicit timing from a different angle: by using healthy ageing as a model to study cognitive and neural timing mechanisms (measured with EEG). Explicit timing abilitiesare known to change with age, and finding related changes in implicit timing would strongly argue for shared resources between both tasks. Together, this research will contribute to a clearer taxonomy of timing processes, and has the potential to reveal shared resources between implicit and explicit timing processes, which would in turn be good candidates for a core timing module. Furthermore,examining how timing abilities develop during the lifespan might reveal new diagnostic approaches to distinguish healthy ageing from pathological developments.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Sophie Herbst, Ph.D., until 12/2017