Visual cortex encodes timing information in humans and mice

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2022-12, Vol.110 (24), p.4194-4211.e10
• Main Authors: Yu, Qingpeng, Bi, Zedong, Jiang, Shize, Yan, Biao, Chen, Heming, Wang, Yiting, Miao, Yizhan, Li, Kexin, Wei, Zixuan, Xie, Yuanting, Tan, Xinrong, Liu, Xiaodi, Fu, Hang, Cui, Liyuan, Xing, Lu, Weng, Shijun, Wang, Xin, Yuan, Yuanzhi, Zhou, Changsong, Wang, Gang, Li, Liang, Ma, Lan, Mao, Ying, Chen, Liang, Zhang, Jiayi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; human visual cortex; Humans; Learning; Mice; mouse visual cortex; Neurons - physiology; SEEG; Time Factors; Time Perception - physiology; time-keeping sequence; timing; Visual Cortex - physiology
• ISSN: 0896-6273; 1097-4199
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.008

Despite the importance of timing in our daily lives, our understanding of how the human brain mediates second-scale time perception is limited. Here, we combined intracranial stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) recordings in epileptic patients and circuit dissection in mice to show that visual cortex (VC) encodes timing information. We first asked human participants to perform an interval-timing task and found VC to be a key timing brain area. We then conducted optogenetic experiments in mice and showed that VC plays an important role in the interval-timing behavior. We further found that VC neurons fired in a time-keeping sequential manner and exhibited increased excitability in a timed manner. Finally, we used a computational model to illustrate a self-correcting learning process that generates interval-timed activities with scalar-timing property. Our work reveals how localized oscillations in VC occurring in the seconds to deca-seconds range relate timing information from the external world to guide behavior. [Display omitted] •Visual cortex (VC) is a key interval-timing brain area in humans and mice•Localized oscillations relate second-scale timing information to guide behavior•Firing pattern and excitability of neurons in VC exhibited timed manner in mice•Computational model revealed a self-correcting learning process for timing Qingpeng Yu et al. find that visual cortex acts as a key timing area in processing visually cued interval-timing information in the range of seconds to deca-seconds through intrinsic circuit dynamics in humans and mice.