Chronoception in the Context of Temporal Lobe Dysfunction
Abstract number :
2.495
Submission category :
11. Behavior/Neuropsychology/Language / 11A. Adult
Year :
2025
Submission ID :
1407
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/7/2025 12:00:00 AM
Published date :
Authors :
Presenting Author: Evan Brady, BS – Emory University School of Medicine
Adam Dickey, MD, PhD – Baylor College of Medicine
Daniel Drane, PhD – Emory University School of Medicine
Rationale: The perception of time is a generally understudied mechanism despite its ubiquitous involvement in numerous neural processes. Prior research has found that short-term time perception is impaired by various neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease; however, this has yet to be extended to longer duration temporal ranges or studied in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Here, we employed a mid-range Time Perception Task (TPT) to examine temporal processing in TLE patients versus healthy controls (HCs). This approach aims to elucidate mechanisms underlying temporal awareness and characterize TLE specific deficits across extended time intervals.
Methods: For this study, 30 TLE patients and 37 HCs were recruited to participate in a comprehensive neuropsychological (NP) battery that examined various domains of cognition, including a mid-range time perception task. The TPT employed a dual-trial paradigm designed to differentiate between implicit and explicit temporal processing. In Trial 1 (implicit condition), participants engaged in the NP battery for 12-17 minutes without prior instruction about time estimation. Following this interval, participants were asked to retrospectively estimate the elapsed time from the start of testing. Trial 2 (explicit condition) utilized an identical temporal interval and procedure; however, participants were prospectively instructed to monitor the passage of time throughout the task period. This design allowed for the examination of temporal processing under conditions of memory/divided attention versus directed monitoring/attention.
Results: An ANOVA revealed significant between-group differences in unprompted trial performance, supporting our hypothesis that temporal perception differs between HCs and TLE patients for both duration estimates and (F [1, 71]=7.24, p=.009; F [1, 71]=4.50, p= .037). Despite prior research suggesting differences between left and right hemisphere dysfunction, our findings showed no significant differences between lesion lateralization in context of performance on the TPT (F [1, 71]=1.56, p=.219; F [1, 71]=.77, p=.466). These findings indicate that temporal lobe (TL) pathology, rather than specific hemispheric involvement, underlies the observed deficits.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrate performance differences on the TPT between TLE patients and HC. Specifically, we found that TLE patients experienced lag in the unprompted trial compared to HC, and that there was no significant difference in the prompted trial between the two groups. These findings suggest the TL's critical role in implicit temporal processing, which is likely more dependent on memory. Conversely, the prompted trial did not yield any significant results suggesting that explicit time perception operates through distinct functional networks separate from automatic implicit temporal rhythm mechanisms. Our work highlights a need for further investigation into temporal reasoning circuits and suggests that TL damage may disrupt implicit temporal processing while sparing explicit chronometric functions.
Funding: NIH/NINDS R01 NS088748
Behavior