Role of the cerebellum in time perception: A TMS study in normal subjects

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the cerebellum in a temporal-discrimination task without movement production in healthy subjects. Ten healthy subjects underwent a time-perception task with somatosensory stimuli. Two pairs of electrical stimuli: the first considered the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the neurological sciences 2007-12, Vol.263 (1), p.107-112
Main Authors: Fierro, B, Palermo, A, Puma, A, Francolini, M, Panetta, M.L, Daniele, O, Brighina, F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Biochemistry and metabolism
Biological and medical sciences
Central nervous system
Cerebellum
Cerebellum - physiology
Child clinical studies
Cognition
Developmental disorders
Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology
Electric Stimulation - methods
Female
Functional Laterality
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Infantile autism
Male
Medical sciences
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Somatosensory stimuli
Time Factors
Time intervals
Time perception
Time Perception - physiology
TMS
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the cerebellum in a temporal-discrimination task without movement production in healthy subjects. Ten healthy subjects underwent a time-perception task with somatosensory stimuli. Two pairs of electrical stimuli: the first considered the reference pair (rp) with a standard interval of 400 ms and the second, the test pair (tp), with variable intervals ranging from 300 to 500 ms, were applied by surface electrodes on the right forearm. Subjects were instructed to compare time intervals of rp and tp and to estimate whether the tp interval was shorter than, equal to, or longer than that of rp. The task was performed in baseline and after 1 Hz rTMS over the right and left cerebellar hemisphere. The right cerebellar rTMS worsened temporal discrimination of cutaneous somatosensory electrical stimuli on the ipsilateral hand. rTMS of the left cerebellar hemisphere did not determine significant changes in the subjects' performance with respect to the baseline. These findings suggest that the cerebellum plays a role in merely perceptive aspects of temporal information processing.
ISSN:0022-510X
1878-5883
DOI:10.1016/j.jns.2007.06.033