Noulhiane Marion, Pouthas Viviane, Hasboun Dominique, Baulac Michel, Samson Séverine
Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Imaging Laboratory, LENA CNRS UPR640, Paris, France.
Neuroreport. 2007 Jul 2;18(10):1035-8. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3281668be1.
This study examined the role of medial temporal lobe structures in verbal estimation and production of time intervals. Left medial temporal lobe lesions produced deficits in both tasks, whereas right medial temporal lobe lesions only disturbed time production. Although both tasks require adequate use of chronometric units, they seem to be subserved by distinct cognitive processing and to depend on different neural substrates. Verbal estimation of intervals in retrospect seems to depend mainly on contextual memory, and production of intervals depends more specifically on the mental load devoted to time. These findings, documenting for the first time the role of each temporal lobe in duration estimation within the range of minutes, are discussed in light of memory-based and attentional models of time.
