Speaker: Marcus Missal (Professor, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain.)

Date: 2018.11.09 (Fri.)  15:00-17:00pm

Location: 12 Floor , Conference room, DA-AN Branch, Taipei Medical University

Abstract:

Temporal preparation refers to our ability to be ready when an expected event occurs. For instance, we often prepare for the expected change of a traffic light and this preparation leads to a shorter reaction time when the light change eventually occurs. It has often been suggested that the sense of time could be altered in psychiatric diseases like major depression disorder (MDD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Indeed, MDD and PD patients react more slowly and often complain that time seems to ‘flow’ at a reduced pace. Therefore, we investigated temporal preparation in MDD and PD. We found that the impairment of temporal preparation in patients could be caused by a reduced short-term temporal memory buffer, particularly in depression. Moreover, higher oculomotor impulsivity caused a further reduction of temporal preparation in MDD. These results experimentally ground disturbances of the senses of time and elucidate how temporal preparation and inhibition are interrelated. Competing theoretical accounts will be discussed.