Prefrontal involvement in temporal bridging and timing movement

• Published in: Neuropsychologia Vol. 36; no. 12; pp. 1283 - 1293
• Main Authors: Rubia, Katja, Overmeyer, Stephan, Taylor, Eric, Brammer, Mick, Williams, Steve, Simmons, Andrew, Andrew, Chris, Bullmore, Edward
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.12.1998; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adult; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Attention - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; Cortical Synchronization; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Female; functional magnetic resonance imaging; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; medial prefrontal cortex; Middle Aged; Motor Cortex - physiology; Motor Skills - physiology; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reference Values; supplementary motor area; tapping; time estimation; Time Perception - physiology; timing; tapping; supplementary motor area; medial prefrontal cortex; timing; time estimation; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; functional magnetic resonance imaging; Human; Motor cortex; Central nervous system; Body movement; Medical imagery; Tapping task; Cognition; Prefrontal cortex; Timing; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Brain (vertebrata); Time perception
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/S0028-3932(98)00038-4

Brain activity exclusively related to a temporal delay has rarely been investigated using modern brain imaging. In this study we exploited the temporal resolution of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterise, by sinusoidal regression analysis, differential neuroactivation patterns induced in healthy subjects by two sensorimotor synchronization tasks different in their premovement delay of either 0.6 s or 5 s. The short event rate condition required rhythmic tapping, while the long event rate condition required timing of intermittent movements. Left rostral prefrontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, SMA and supramarginal gyrus demonstrated increased MR signal intensity during low frequency synchronization, suggesting that these brain regions form a distributed neural network for cognitive time management processes, such as time estimation and motor output timing. Medial frontal cortex showed a biphasic pattern of response during both synchronization conditions, presumably reflecting frequency-independent motor output related attention. As predicted, sensorimotor and visual association areas demonstrated increased MR signal intensity during high frequency synchronization.