Citation

Macdonald CJ, Meck WH. Behav. Brain Res. 2006; 175(1): 62-74.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Genome Sciences Research Building II, 3rd Floor, 572 Research Drive, Box 91050, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.bbr.2006.08.004

PMID

16962181

Abstract

In a series of three experiments, simple reaction time (RT) was characterized with respect to a variable preparatory interval (PI) in order to investigate the relationship between interval timing and RT. In Experiment 1, it was shown that RT decreases as a function of PI and that this effect varies with amount of training. In Experiment 2, RT was shown to increase during probe trials that used a novel 6.25s PI, suggesting that the specific durations of the PIs encoded during initial training contribute to the PI effect on RT. In Experiment 3, 100 microg/kg i.p. of raclopride proportionally slowed RT as a function of the PI. These results are discussed within the context of neuropsychological models of interval timing and support an underlying role for cortico-striatal dopaminergic function in temporal processing and simple RT measurements.

Language: en