Description du projet
À la recherche de synchronisation dans le cerveau
Le temps représente sans doute la principale dimension de nos vies. Une bonne synchronisation est essentielle pour mener à bien les objectifs de nos actions quotidiennes, même celles comme le simple fait de parler ou de serrer des mains. Les êtres humains ne possèdent aucun organe spécifique pour mesurer le temps. Nous apprenons à l’évaluer à travers nos interactions avec l’environnement. Nous ignorons pourtant comment notre cerveau traite la perception du temps. Le projet Time in Action, financé par l’UE, effectuera une nouvelle recherche sur la perception du temps en tant que compétence que nous obtenons en apprenant des comportements orientés vers un objectif. Cette étude complète fondée sur des expérimentations, associée à une activité de mesure cérébrale menée au moyen d’une électroencéphalographie, entend révéler la manière dont l’apprentissage des actions orientées vers un objectif se rapporte à la perception du temps, et permettra de mieux comprendre les processus neuronaux connexes.
Objectif
Timing permeates our daily experience. We extract temporal regularities to predict events, such as traffic light behaviour. We narrow down cause-effect relationships based on temporal proximity of events. Everyday behaviours, such as shaking hands or speaking, are possible because of accurate timing. Despite its importance, timing is an elusive concept. We lack a sensing organ for time (in the same way as we have eyes for detecting light), and there are no brain areas uniquely involved in its processing (in the same way as we have visual cortices for vision). Given these constraints, how does time perception arise in the brain? Converging evidence suggests a central role of action in enabling time perception. Developmental studies suggest that timing is ‘acquired’ as children learn to interact with the environment. Brain research indeed shows a considerable action/timing overlap, as timing computations are embedded in action control brain function. Indeed, at its core, successful behaviour is all about timing: accurate timing is what separates successful actions such as shifting gears, from unsuccessful ones such as bumping into a car in front of us. Thus, timing might emerge from our ability of learning goal-directed behaviour. We propose that the key to the time perception puzzle lies in formalizing this statement, by directly evaluating time perception in the context of goal-directed action learning. We will causally establish how learning of goal-directed action features shapes our perception and neural processing of time. This will be carried out across experiments requiring adults to simultaneously learn goal-directed actions and estimate the duration of visual stimuli, while recording electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of brain activity. This project will spearhead a new cross-disciplinary approach merging timing and motor learning paradigms, with a significant impact on the way we think about and methodologically approach the study of time.
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
34136 Trieste
Italie