Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2010 Apr 23;5(4):e10324. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010324.
The neural basis of timing remains poorly understood. Although controversy persists, many lines of evidence, including studies in animals, functional imaging studies in humans and lesion studies in humans and animals suggest that the basal ganglia are important for temporal processing [1].
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report data from a wide range of timing tasks from two subjects with disabling neurologic deficits caused by bilateral lesions of the basal ganglia. Both subjects perform well on tasks assessing time estimation, reproduction and production tasks. Additionally, one subject performed normally on psychophysical tasks requiring the comparison of time intervals ranging from milliseconds to seconds; the second subject performed abnormally on the psychophysical task with a 300ms standard but did well with 600ms, 2000ms and 8000ms standards. Both subjects performed poorly on an isochronous rhythm production task on which they are required to maintain rhythmic tapping.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: As studies of subjects with brain lesions permit strong inferences regarding the necessity of brain structures, these data demonstrate that the basal ganglia are not crucial for many sub- or supra-second timing operations in humans but are needed for the timing procedures that underlie the production of movements. This dissociation suggests that distinct and dissociable processes may be employed to measure time intervals. Inconsistencies in findings regarding the neural basis of timing may reflect the availability of multiple temporal processing routines that are flexibly implemented in response to task demands.
时间感知的神经基础仍未被充分理解。尽管存在争议，但许多证据，包括动物研究、人类功能成像研究以及人类和动物的损伤研究，均表明基底神经节对于时间处理很重要[1]。
方法/主要发现：我们报告了两位因双侧基底神经节损伤而导致严重神经功能障碍的患者在一系列广泛的计时任务中的数据。这两位患者在评估时间估计、复制和产生任务的任务中表现良好。此外，一位患者在需要比较从毫秒到秒的时间间隔的心理物理任务中表现正常；第二位患者在 300ms 标准的心理物理任务中表现异常，但在 600ms、2000ms 和 8000ms 标准中表现良好。这两位患者在等时节奏产生任务中表现不佳，他们需要保持有节奏的敲击。
结论/意义：由于对大脑损伤患者的研究可以对大脑结构的必要性进行强有力的推断，这些数据表明，基底神经节对于人类的许多亚秒或超秒计时操作并不是至关重要的，但对于产生运动的计时过程是必需的。这种分离表明，可能采用了不同的和可分离的过程来测量时间间隔。关于时间感知神经基础的发现不一致，可能反映了多种时间处理程序的可用性，这些程序可根据任务需求灵活实施。
