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Poster Session B: Wednesday, August 13, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Tracking time by simulating the sensory world

Aaron Kaltenmaier¹, Quirin Gehmacher¹, Peter Kok, Matthew H. Davis, Clare Press¹; ¹University College London, University of London

Presenter: Aaron Kaltenmaier

Theories of oscillatory tracking propose that neural oscillations model external temporal structure by phase-coupling to environmental rhythms. However, methodological challenges make evidence for these proposal sparse, particularly in the visual domain which has predominantly focused on how theta and alpha oscillations parse perception independently of external temporal structure. Using a new empirical approach we aimed to address this question. Participants attended rhythmic visual displays and we used rate-specific phase coherence MEG measures as well as multivariate decoding to investigate the cortical tracking of this temporal structure. We show rate-specific phase-coupling of motor regions to the tracked rhythm, specifically when timing is task-relevant. Crucially, this explicit tracking of temporal structure relies on temporally precise sensory predictions in visual areas that interestingly appear regardless of task instruction. We propose a mechanism by which automatic sensory simulation yields an information envelope that is read out by motor areas when required to derive temporal estimates. Under this view, temporal predictions are simply derivatives, and sensory predictions are their necessary bedrock.

Topic Area: Brain Networks & Neural Dynamics

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