Disruption of short‐duration timing associated with damage to the suprachiasmatic region of the hypothalamus

Abstract

The neural bases of circadian rhythmicity have been demonstrated in a variety of animal species, including primates. Yet, the brain mechanisms underlying time experience and the timing of behaviors of shorter duration are still not well understood. In the present study, we demonstrate disruption of short-duration timing capacity in AH, a patient with damage to the suprachiasmatic (SCN) region of the hypothalamus. AH exhibited extreme inconsistency in her rate of tapping production on a motor continuation paradigm. Her inter-response intervals (IRIs) were extremely large compared with normal control subjects and were similar to those previously reported in patients with cerebellar dysfunction. Increased variability of both central timing and motor implementation processes was evident compared with both age-matched and elderly normal control subjects. Severe impairment of time perception was also evident on duration discrimination, whereas auditory loudness discrimination was intact. These findings suggest that a hierarchic relationship between long-duration (circadian) and short-duration timing exists, and that in addition to the cerebellum, intact hypothalamic functioning is necessary for short-duration timing.

Time estimation in Parkinson's disease: normal long duration estimation despite impaired short duration discrimination

“…Severely deficient temporal processing in the psychological present has previously been reported in spontaneously confabulating and disorientated amnestic patients [28], whose deficit reflects a confusion of memory traces from temporally distinct events [29,32,33], and in a patient with a hypothalamic lesion associated with a severely disrupted circardian rhythm [6]. Deficient processing of longer intervals has previously been reported in severely amnestic patients [19,26,40].…”

“…Given the anatomical basis of spontaneous confabulations and disorientation, i. e. damage or disconnection of the orbitofrontal cortex [29,32], processing of the psychological present probably depends on an intact orbitofrontal area and intact limbic input from the amygdala and the dorsomedial nucleus [31]. A similar deficit was recently demonstrated in a patient with a hypothalamic tumour who failed to continue to tap at a rhythm of approximately 2 Hz and to discriminate between serially presented intervals around 400 ms [6]; structures having projections with the above limbic structures may thus be involved in temporal processing within the psychological present.…”

The precision of temporal judgement: milliseconds, many minutes, and beyond

“…This shared regression of precision measures implies a similarity between short interval and circadian timing mechanisms, which are in keeping with work suggesting that there may be interplay between these systems. These include a clinical study describing a human with an suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) lesion who showed abnormal variability in tapping continuation of 550 ms intervals and impaired duration discrimination of 400 ms, while tone intensity discrimination was unaffected (Cohen et al 1997). Furthermore, the drug phospho fluoridate perturbs both circadian rhythm and duration comparisons (Raslear et al 1988).…”

Altered circadian profiles in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: An integrative review and theoretical framework for future studies

“…Direct evidence for the functionality of the SCN-DMH-LC circuit comes from patients with a lesioned SCN who fail to modulate attention, dysregulating the timing of the attention focus (Cohen et al, 1997). Also with respect to hyperactivity, Sylvester et al (2002) described a modulating role of SCN as suggested in studies with rats (Stephan and Zucker, 1972).…”