scholarly journals Sequential Temporal Discrimination in Humans and Mice

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filiz Çoşkun ◽  
Dilara Berkay ◽  
Zeynep Ceyda Sayalı ◽  
Fuat Balcı
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Endogenous Timing ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Probabilistic Information ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
Timing Uncertainty

Previous studies showed that humans and mice can maximize their rewards in two alternative temporal discrimination tasks by incorporating exogenous probabilities and endogenous timing uncertainty into their decisions. The current study investigated if the probabilistic relations modulated the temporal discrimination performance in scenarios with more than two temporal options. In order to address this question, we tested humans (Experiment 1) and mice (Experiment 2) in the dual-switch task, which required subjects to discriminate three time intervals (short, medium, and long durations) in a sequential fashion. The latencies of switches from short to medium and from medium to long option were the main units of analysis. The results revealed that the timing of switches between the first two options (short-to-medium) were sensitive to probabilistic information in both humans and mice. However, mice but not humans adapted the timing of their subsequent switches between the last two options (medium-to-long) based on the probabilistic information associated with these latter options. These results point at a suboptimal tendency in the temporal decisions of humans with multiple options.

scholarly journals Effects of stimulus and task structure on temporal perceptual learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rannie Xu ◽  
Russell M. Church ◽  
Yuka Sasaki ◽  
Takeo Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Interval Representation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Temporal Intervals ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Temporal Learning ◽  
And Task

AbstractOur ability to discriminate temporal intervals can be improved with practice. This learning is generally thought to reflect an enhancement in the representation of a trained interval, which leads to interval-specific improvements in temporal discrimination. In the present study, we asked whether temporal learning is further constrained by context-specific factors dictated through the trained stimulus and task structure. Two groups of participants were trained using a single-interval auditory discrimination task over 5 days. Training intervals were either one of eight predetermined values (FI group), or random from trial to trial (RI group). Before and after the training period, we measured discrimination performance using an untrained two-interval temporal comparison task. Our results revealed a selective improvement in the FI group, but not the RI group. However, this learning did not generalize between the trained and untrained tasks. These results highlight the sensitivity of TPL to stimulus and task structure, suggesting that mechanisms of temporal learning rely on processes beyond changes in interval representation.

scholarly journals Application of Mixed Linear Models in the Analysis of Road Surface Features

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgita Židanavičiūtė ◽  
Audrius Vaitkus
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Road Surface ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Mixed Linear Models ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Surface Strength ◽  
The Road ◽  
Unequally Spaced ◽  
Units Of Analysis ◽  
The Impact

The data were collected by researchers at the Road Research Institute, in a study investigating the impact of differentfactors on road surface strength. In this statistical analysis, we apply linear mixed models (LMMs) to clustered longitudinal data, inwhich the units of analysis (points in the road) are nested within clusters (sample of four different road segments), and repeatedmeasures of road strength in these different points are collected over time with unequally spaced time intervals. The data arebalanced – each cluster has the same number of units, which are measured at the same number of time points. Because of correlateddata and different clusters in which data could be correlated, linear regression models are not appropriate here, and therefore linearmixed models are applied.

scholarly journals The Effect of Probabilistic Information on Threshold Forecasts

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 804-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Joslyn ◽  
Karla Pak ◽  
David Jones ◽  
John Pyles ◽  
Earl Hunt
Keyword(s):  
General Tendency ◽  
Laboratory Setting ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Probabilistic Information ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Low Probability ◽  
The Difference ◽  
High Winds ◽  
Very High

Abstract The study reported here asks whether the use of probabilistic information indicating forecast uncertainty improves the quality of deterministic weather decisions. Participants made realistic wind speed forecasts based on historical information in a controlled laboratory setting. They also decided whether it was appropriate to post an advisory for winds greater than 20 kt (10.29 m s−1) during the same time intervals and in the same geographic locations. On half of the forecasts each participant also read a color-coded chart showing the probability of winds greater than 20 kt. Participants had a general tendency to post too many advisories in the low probability situations (0%–10%) and too few advisories in very high probability situations (90%–100%). However, the probability product attenuated these biases. When participants used the probability product, they posted fewer advisories when the probability of high winds was low and they posted more advisories when the probability of high winds was high. The difference was due to the probability product alone because the within-subjects design and counterbalancing of forecast dates ruled out alternative explanations. The data suggest that the probability product improved threshold forecast decisions.

scholarly journals Time-based reward maximization

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1637) ◽  
pp. 20120461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilgehan Çavdaroğlu ◽  
Mustafa Zeki ◽  
Fuat Balcı
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Endogenous Timing ◽  
Subsequent Response ◽  
Timing Uncertainty ◽  
Empirical Performance ◽  
Optimal Target ◽  
Payoff Structure ◽  
Assessment Performance ◽  
Limited Precision

Humans and animals time intervals from seconds to minutes with high accuracy but limited precision. Consequently, time-based decisions are inevitably subjected to our endogenous timing uncertainty, and thus require temporal risk assessment. In this study, we tested temporal risk assessment ability of humans when participants had to withhold each subsequent response for a minimum duration to earn reward and each response reset the trial time. Premature responses were not penalized in Experiment 1 but were penalized in Experiment 2. Participants tried to maximize reward within a fixed session time (over eight sessions) by pressing a key. No instructions were provided regarding the task rules/parameters. We evaluated empirical performance within the framework of optimality that was based on the level of endogenous timing uncertainty and the payoff structure. Participants nearly tracked the optimal target inter-response times (IRTs) that changed as a function of the level of timing uncertainty and maximized the reward rate in both experiments. Acquisition of optimal target IRT was rapid and abrupt without any further improvement or worsening. These results constitute an example of optimal temporal risk assessment performance in a task that required finding the optimal trade-off between the ‘speed’ (timing) and ‘accuracy’ (reward probability) of timed responses for reward maximization.

scholarly journals Optimal time discrimination

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filiz Çoşkun ◽  
Zeynep Ceyda Sayalı ◽  
Emine Gürbüz ◽  
Fuat Balcı
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Optimal Time ◽  
Endogenous Timing ◽  
Bisection Task ◽  
Temporal Bisection ◽  
Expected Gain ◽  
Timing Uncertainty ◽  
Reward Functions ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Temporal Bisection Task

In the temporal bisection task, participants categorize experienced stimulus durations as short or long based on their similarity to previously acquired reference durations. Reward maximization in this task requires integrating endogenous timing uncertainty as well as exogenous probabilities of the reference durations into temporal judgements. We tested human participants on the temporal bisection task with different short and long reference duration probabilities (exogenous probability) in two separate test sessions. Incorrect categorizations were not penalized in Experiment 1 but were penalized in Experiment 2, leading to different levels of stringency in the reward functions that participants tried to maximize. We evaluated the judgements within the framework of optimality. Our participants adapted their choice behaviour in a nearly optimal fashion and earned nearly the maximum possible expected gain they could attain given their level of endogenous timing uncertainty and exogenous probabilities in both experiments. These results point to the optimality of human temporal risk assessment in the temporal bisection task. The long categorization response times (RTs) were overall faster than short categorization RTs, and short but not long categorization RTs were modulated by reference duration probability manipulations. These observations suggested an asymmetry between short and long categorizations in the temporal bisection task.

Variable Foreperiods and Temporal Discrimination

2003 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Grondin ◽  
Thomas Rammsayer
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Temporal Information ◽  
Temporal Information Processing ◽  
Visual Markers ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Base Duration ◽  
Perceived Duration

Temporal judgements are often accounted for by a single-clock hypothesis. The output of such a clock is reported to depend on the allocation of attention. In the present series of experiments, the influence of attention on temporal information processing is investigated by systematic variations of the period preceding brief empty intervals to be judged. Two indicators of timing performance, temporal sensitivity, reflecting discrimination performance, and perceived duration served as dependent variables. Foreperiods ranged from 0.3 to 0.6 s in Experiments 1 to 4. When the foreperiod varied randomly from trial to trial, perceived duration was longer with increasing length of foreperiod (Experiments 1 and 3 with brief auditory markers and Experiment 4 with brief visual markers), an effect that disappeared with no trial-to-trial variations (Experiment 2). Longer foreperiods also enhanced performance on temporal discrimination of auditory empty intervals with a base duration of 100 ms (Experiments 1 and 5), whereas discrimination performance was unaffected for auditory intervals with a base duration of 500 ms (Experiment 3). The variable-foreperiod effect on perceived duration also held when foreperiods ranged from 0.6 to 1.5 s (Experiments 5—7). Findings suggest that foreperiods appear to effectively modulate attention mechanisms necessary for temporal information processing. However, alternative explanations such as assimilation or compatibility effects cannot be totally discarded.

scholarly journals Temporal Encoding: Relative and absolute representations of time guide behavior

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Başak Akdoğan ◽  
Amita Wanar ◽  
Benjamin Kyle Gersten ◽  
Charles Randy Gallistel ◽  
Peter Balsam
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Temporal Distance ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Discrimination Ability ◽  
Extensive Training ◽  
Discrimination Procedure ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Temporal Encoding ◽  
Relational Control

Temporal information-processing is critical for adaptive behavior and goal-directed action. It is thus crucial to understand how the temporal distance between behaviorally relevant events is encoded to guide behavior. However, research on temporal representations has yielded mixed findings as to whether organisms utilize relative versus absolute judgments of time intervals. To address this fundamental question about the timing mechanism, we tested mice in a duration discrimination procedure in which they learned to correctly categorize tones of different durations as short or long. After being trained on a pair of target intervals the mice transferred to conditions in which cue durations and corresponding response locations were systematically manipulated. Specifically, responses and/or durations of cues were switched in different experimental phases so that either the relative or absolute mapping remained constant. The findings indicate that the transfer occurred most readily when relative relationships of durations and response locations were preserved. In contrast, when the animals had to re-map these relative relations, their temporal discrimination ability was impaired, and they required extensive training to re-establish temporal control. However, preserving the response location of one of the cue durations in such conditions was found to help with initial transfer. These results demonstrate that mice can represent experienced durations both as having a certain magnitude (absolute representation) and as being shorter or longer of the two durations (an ordinal relation to other cue durations), with relational control having a greater influence in temporal discriminations.

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