Elsevier

Brain and Cognition

Volume 48, Issue 1, February 2002, Pages 7-30
Brain and Cognition

Regular Article
Voluntary Timing and Brain Function: An Information Processing Approach

https://doi.org/10.1006/brcg.2001.1301Get rights and content

Abstract

This article takes an information processing perspective to review current understanding of brain mechanisms of human voluntary timing. Theoretical accounts of timing of the production of isochronous tapping and rhythms and of bimanual responding repetitive responding are reviewed. The mapping of higher level temporal parameter setting and memory processes and of lower level motor implementation process onto cortical and subcortical brain structures is discussed in relation to evidence from selective lesions in a range of neurological motor disorders. Brain activation studies that have helped identify key brain structures involved in the control of timing are reviewed.

References (95)

  • V. Sergent et al.

    Effects of responding hand and concurrent verbal processing on time-keeping and motor-implementation processes

    Brain and Cognition

    (1993)
  • J.J. Summers et al.

    Strategies in the production of 5:3 polyrhythm

    Human Movement Science

    (1992)
  • M.T. Turvey et al.

    Clock and motor components in absolute coordination of rhythmic movements

    Neuroscience

    (1989)
  • A.M. Wing

    The long and short of timing in response sequences

  • M. Billon et al.

    The timing of accent production in synchronization and continuation tasks performed by musicians and nonmusicians

    Psychological Research

    (1995)
  • M. Billon et al.

    The timing effects of accent production in periodic finger-tapping sequences

    Journal of Motor Behavior

    (1996)
  • C. Brinkman

    Supplementary motor area of the monkey's cerebral cortex: Short- and long-term deficits after unilateral ablation and the effects of subsequent callosal section

    Journal of Neuroscience

    (1984)
  • J.-L. Chan et al.

    Left-handed mirror writing following right anterior cerebral artery infarction: Evidence for nonmirror transformation of motor programs by right supplementary motor area

    Neurology

    (1988)
  • C.J.S. Collins et al.

    Timing variabity of repetitive saccadic eye movements

    Experimental Brain Research

    (1998)
  • C.D. Creelman

    Human discrimination of auditory duration

    Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

    (1962)
  • A. Daffertshofer

    Effects of noise on the phase dynamics of non-linear oscillators

    Physical Review E

    (1998)
  • J.M. Duchek et al.

    Component analysis of a rhythmic finger tapping task in individuals with senile dementia of the alzheimer type and in individuals with parkinson's disease

    Neuropsychology

    (1994)
  • E.A. Franz et al.

    Reduced timing variability in patients with unilateral cerebellar lesions during bimanual movements

    Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

    (1996)
  • E.A. Franz et al.

    Evidence of common timing processes in the control of manual, orofacial, and speech movements

    Journal of Motor Behavior

    (1992)
  • J. Gibbon et al.

    Scalar timing in memory

  • L.S. Greene et al.

    Age related differences in timing control of repetitive movement: Application of the Wing–Kristofferson model

    Research Quarterly of Exercise and Sports

    (1993)
  • H. Haken et al.

    A theoretical model of phase transitions in human hand movements

    Biological Cybernetics

    (1985)
  • D.L. Harrington et al.

    Sequencing and timing operations of the basal ganglia

  • D.L. Harrington et al.

    Temporal processing in the basal ganglia

    Neuropsychology

    (1998)
  • D.L. Harrington et al.

    Cortical networks underlying mechanisms of time perception

    The Journal of Neuroscience

    (1998)
  • L.L. Helmuth et al.

    When two hands are better than one: Reduced timing variability during bimanual movements

    Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

    (1996)
  • A.W. Inhoff et al.

    Unimanual tapping during concurrent articulation: Generalized and lateralized effects of memory encoding upon the rate and variability of concurrent finger tapping

    Brian and Cognition

    (1990)
  • R. Ivry et al.

    Slicing the variability pie: Component analysis of coordination and motor dysfunction

  • R. Ivry et al.

    The perception and production of temporal intervals across a range of durations

    Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

    (1995)
  • R. Ivry et al.

    Timing functions of the cerebellum

    Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

    (1989)
  • R. Ivry et al.

    Dissociation of the lateral and medial cerebellum in movement timing and movement execution

    Experimental Brain Research

    (1988)
  • R.B. Ivry et al.

    Temporal control and coordination: The multiple timer model

    Brain and Cognition

    (2001)
  • R.J. Jagacinski et al.

    Tests of parallel versus integrated structure in polyrhythmic tapping

    Journal of Motor Behavior

    (1988)
  • M. Jahanshahi et al.

    Self-initiated versus externally triggered movements. I. An investigation using measurement of regional cerebral blood flow with PET and movement-related potentials in normal and Parkinson's disease subjects

    Brain

    (1995)
  • J.A.S. Kelso

    Phase transitions and critical behavior in human bimanual coordination

    American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology

    (1984)
  • S.T. Klapp et al.

    Can people tap concurrent bimanual rhythms independently?

    Journal of Motor Behavior

    (1998)
  • R.T. Krampe et al.

    The effects of expertise and age on rhythm production: Adaptations to timing and sequence constraints

    Brain and Cognition

    (2001)
  • R.T. Krampe et al.

    The fast and slow of skilled bimanual rhythm production: parallel vs integrated timing

    Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

    (2000)
  • F. Macar et al.

    The supplementary motor area in motor and sensory timing: Evidence from slow brain potential changes

    Experimental Brain Research

    (1999)
  • G. Madison

    On the nature of variability in isochronous serial interval production

  • Madison, G. (In press), Variability in isochronous tapping: Higher-order dependencies as a function of inter-tap...
  • J.G. Martin

    Rhythmic (hierarchical) versus serial structure in speech and other behavior

    Psychology Review

    (1972)
  • Cited by (130)

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    The research for the preparation of this article was funded by the MRC.

    Address correspondence and reprint requests to Alan Wing, University of Birmingham, Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: a.m.wing @bham.ac.uk.

    View full text