Selectivity of timing: A meta-analysis of temporal processing in neuroimaging studies using activation likelihood estimation and reverse inference

Neural dynamics of delayed feedback in robot teleoperation: insights from fNIRS analysis

Introduction

As robot teleoperation increasingly becomes integral in executing tasks in distant, hazardous, or inaccessible environments, operational delays remain a significant obstacle. These delays, inherent in signal transmission and processing, adversely affect operator performance, particularly in tasks requiring precision and timeliness. While current research has made strides in mitigating these delays through advanced control strategies and training methods, a crucial gap persists in understanding the neurofunctional impacts of these delays and the efficacy of countermeasures from a cognitive perspective.

Methods

This study addresses the gap by leveraging functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the neurofunctional implications of simulated haptic feedback on cognitive activity and motor coordination under delayed conditions. In a human-subject experiment (N = 41), sensory feedback was manipulated to observe its influences on various brain regions of interest (ROIs) during teleoperation tasks. The fNIRS data provided a detailed assessment of cerebral activity, particularly in ROIs implicated in time perception and the execution of precise movements.

Results

Our results reveal that the anchoring condition, which provided immediate simulated haptic feedback with a delayed visual cue, significantly optimized neural functions related to time perception and motor coordination. This condition also improved motor performance compared to the asynchronous condition, where visual and haptic feedback were misaligned.

Discussion

These findings provide empirical evidence about the neurofunctional basis of the enhanced motor performance with simulated synthetic force feedback in the presence of teleoperation delays. The study highlights the potential for immediate haptic feedback to mitigate the adverse effects of operational delays, thereby improving the efficacy of teleoperation in critical applications.

Aperiodic activity differences in individuals with high and low temporal processing efficiency

It is known that Temporal Information Processing (TIP) underpins our cognitive functioning. Previous research has focused on the relationship between TIP efficiency and oscillatory brain activity, especially the gamma rhythm; however, non-oscillatory (aperiodic or 1/f) brain activity has often been missed. Recent studies have identified the 1/f component as being important for the functioning of the brain. Therefore, the current study aimed to verify whether TIP efficiency is associated with specific EEG resting state cortical activity patterns, including oscillatory and non-oscillatory (aperiodic) brain activities. To measure individual TIP efficiency, we used two behavioral tasks in which the participant judges the order of two sounds separated by millisecond intervals. Based on the above procedure, participants were classified into two groups with high and low TIP efficiency. Using cluster-based permutation analyses, we examined between-group differences in oscillatory and non-oscillatory (aperiodic) components across the 1-90Hz range. The results revealed that the groups differed in the aperiodic component across the 30-80Hz range in fronto-central topography. In other words, participants with low TIP efficiency exhibited higher levels of aperiodic activity, and thus a flatter frequency spectrum compared to those with high TIP efficiency. We conclude that participants with low TIP efficiency display higher levels of 'neural noise', which is associated with poorer quality and speed of neural processing.

Prenatal exposure to metal mixtures and childhood temporal processing in the PROGRESS Birth Cohort Study: Modification by childhood obesity

Children are frequently exposed to various biological trace metals, some essential for their development, while others can be potent neurotoxicants. Furthermore, the inflammatory and metabolic conditions associated with obesity may interact with and amplify the impact of metal exposure on neurodevelopment. However, few studies have assessed the potential modification effect of body mass index (BMI). As a result, we investigated the role of child BMI phenotype on the relationship between prenatal exposure to metal mixtures and temporal processing. Leveraging the PROGRESS birth cohort in Mexico City, children (N = 563) aged 6-9 years completed a Temporal Response Differentiation (TRD) task where they had to hold a lever down for 10-14 s. Blood and urinary metal (As, Pb, Cd, and Mn) measurements were collected from mothers in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Child BMI z-scores were dichotomized to normal (between -2 and +0.99) and high (≥1.00). Covariate-adjusted weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression models were used to estimate and examine the combined effect of metal biomarkers (i.e., blood and urine) on TRD measures. Effect modification by the child's BMI was evaluated using 2-way interaction terms. Children with a high BMI and greater exposure to the metal mixture during prenatal development exhibited significant temporal processing deficits compared to children with a normal BMI. Notably, children with increased exposure to the metal mixture and higher BMI had a decrease in the percent of tasks completed (β = -10.13; 95 % CI: -19.84, -0.42), number of average holds (β = -2.15; 95 % CI: -3.88, -0.41), longer latency (β = 0.78; 95 % CI: 0.13, 1.44), and greater variability in the standard deviation of the total hold time (β = 2.08; 95 % CI: 0.34, 3.82) compared to normal BMI children. These findings implicate that high BMI may amplify the effect of metals on children's temporal processing. Understanding the relationship between metal exposures, temporal processing, and childhood obesity can provide valuable insights for developing targeted environmental interventions.

Coordinate-Based Meta-Analyses of the Time Perception Network

The study of time perception has advanced over the past three decades to include numerous neuroimaging studies, most notably including the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Yet, with this increase in studies, there comes the desire to draw broader conclusions across datasets about the nature and instantiation of time in the human brain. In the absence of collating individual studies together, the field has employed the use of Coordinate-Based Meta-Analyses (CBMA), in which foci from individual studies are modeled as probability distributions within the brain, from which common areas of activation-likelihood are determined. This chapter provides an overview of these CBMA studies, the methods they employ, the conclusions drawn by them, and where future areas of inquiry lie. The result of this survey suggests the existence of a domain-general "timing network" that can be used both as a guide for individual neuroimaging studies and as a template for future meta-analyses.

A common timing mechanism across different millisecond domains: evidence from perceptual and motor tasks

Temporal information processing (TIP) constitutes a complex construct that underlies many cognitive functions and operates in a few hierarchically ordered time domains. This study aimed to verify the relationship between the tens of milliseconds and hundreds of milliseconds domains, referring to perceptual and motor timing, respectively. Sixty four young healthy individuals participated in this study. They underwent two auditory temporal order judgement tasks to assess their performance in the tens of milliseconds domain; on this basis, groups of high-level performers (HLP) and low-level performers (LLP) were identified. Then, a maximum tapping task was used to evaluate performance in the hundreds of milliseconds domain. The most remarkable result was that HLP achieved a faster tapping rate and synchronised quicker with their "internal clock" during the tapping task than did LLP. This result shows that there is a relationship between accuracy in judging temporally asynchronous stimuli and ability to achieve and maintain the pace of a movement adequate to one's internal pacemaker. This could indicate the strong contribution of a common timing mechanism, responsible for temporal organisation and coordination of behaviours across different millisecond domains.

Time processing in neurological and psychiatric conditions

A central question in understanding cognition and pathology-related cognitive changes is how we process time. However, time processing difficulties across several neurological and psychiatric conditions remain seldom investigated. The aim of this review is to develop a unifying taxonomy of time processing, and a neuropsychological perspective on temporal difficulties. Four main temporal judgments are discussed: duration processing, simultaneity and synchrony, passage of time, and mental time travel. We present an integrated theoretical framework of timing difficulties across psychiatric and neurological conditions based on selected patient populations. This framework provides new mechanistic insights on both (a) the processes involved in each temporal judgement, and (b) temporal difficulties across pathologies. By identifying underlying transdiagnostic time-processing mechanisms, this framework opens fruitful avenues for future research.