Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Neural mechanisms for timing visual events are spatially selective in real-world coordinates

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 423–425 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

It is generally assumed that perceptual events are timed by a centralized supramodal clock. This study challenges this notion in humans by providing clear evidence that visual events of subsecond duration are timed by visual neural mechanisms with spatially circumscribed receptive fields, localized in real-world, rather than retinal, coordinates.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Illustration of stimuli and the effect of adaptation on perceived duration.
Figure 2: Average perceived duration for the control and three adaptation conditions (color-coded as for Fig. 1b).

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Buonomano, D.V. & Karmarkar, U.R. Neuroscientist 8, 42–51 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Johnston, A., Arnold, D.H. & Nishida, S. Curr. Biol. 16, 472–479 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Morrone, M.C., Ross, J. & Burr, D. Nat. Neurosci. 8, 950–954 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Melcher, D. Curr. Biol. 15, 1745–1748 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Thompson, P. Vision Res. 21, 337–345 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kanai, R., Paffen, C.L.E., Hogendoorn, J.H.A. & Verstraten, F.A.J. J. Vis. 6, 1421–1430 (2006).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Macknik, S.L. & Martinez-Conde, S. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 16, 1049–1059 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Galletti, C., Battaglini, P.P. & Fattori, P. Eur. J. Neurosci. 7, 2486–2501 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Duhamel, J.R., Bremmer, F., BenHamed, S. & Graf, W. Nature 389, 845–848 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Duhamel, J.R., Colby, C.L. & Goldberg, M.E. Science 255, 90–92 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Leon, M.I. & Shadlen, M.N. Neuron 38, 317–327 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Bueti, D. & Walsh, V. J. Cogn. Neurosci. F 58, 335 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  13. d'Avossa, G. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 10, 249–255 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Karmarkar, U.R. & Buonomano, D.V. Neuron 53, 427–438 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Morgan, M.J., Giora, E. & Solomon, J.A. J. Vis. 6, 1012 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Commission Sixth Framework Programme (NEST, MEMORY), the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Italian Ministry of Research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Università Degli Studi di Firenze, via S. Nicolò 89, Florence, Italy

    David Burr & Arianna Tozzi

  2. School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Stirling Hw, Nedlands, 6009, WA, Australia

    David Burr

  3. Isitituto di Neuroscienze del CNR, via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, Italy

    David Burr & Arianna Tozzi

  4. Facoltà di Psicologia, Università Vita e Salute “San Raffaele,” via Olgettina 58, Milan, Italy

    M Concetta Morrone

Authors
  1. David Burr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Arianna Tozzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M Concetta Morrone
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Burr.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Burr, D., Tozzi, A. & Morrone, M. Neural mechanisms for timing visual events are spatially selective in real-world coordinates. Nat Neurosci 10, 423–425 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1874

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1874

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing