Lost in time: Relocating the perception of duration outside the brain

• Published in: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 153; p. 105312
• Main Author: Robbe, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Basal ganglia; Duration; Hippocampus; Internal clocks; Interval timing; Life Sciences; Neurons and Cognition; Population clocks; Space; Time; Space; Basal ganglia; Interval timing; Population clocks; Time; Duration; Internal clocks; Hippocampus
• ISSN: 0149-7634; 1873-7528
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105312

It is well-accepted in neuroscience that animals process time internally to estimate the duration of intervals lasting between one and several seconds. More than 100 years ago, Henri Bergson nevertheless remarked that, because animals have memory, their inner experience of time is ever-changing, making duration impossible to measure internally and time a source of change. Bergson proposed that quantifying the inner experience of time requires its externalization in movements (observed or self-generated), as their unfolding leaves measurable traces in space. Here, studies across species are reviewed and collectively suggest that, in line with Bergson's ideas, animals spontaneously solve time estimation tasks through a movement-based spatialization of time. Moreover, the well-known scalable anticipatory responses of animals to regularly spaced rewards can be explained by the variable pressure of time on reward-oriented actions. Finally, the brain regions linked with time perception overlap with those implicated in motor control, spatial navigation and motivation. Thus, instead of considering time as static information processed by the brain, it might be fruitful to conceptualize it as a kind of force to which animals are more or less sensitive depending on their internal state and environment. •It is widely accepted that animals and humans estimate interval duration internally using neuronal representations of time.•The idea of an internal quantitative perception of time has been challenged by the philosopher Henri Bergson.•To accurately estimate time intervals, humans and other animals spontaneously spatialize time through stereotyped movements.•The neural underpinnings of time estimation overlap those of motor control, spatial navigation, and motivation.•It might be fruitful to conceptualize time as a force affecting behavior rather than information processed by the brain.