Midbrain Dopamine Warps Subjective Time via Threshold Setting But Not Clock Speed
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Interval timing is an evolutionarily well-preserved function that presents similar behavioral signatures across different species. However, the neural basis of interval timing remains an open question. For instance, although dopamine has been implicated as a vital component of the internal clock, its precise role is debated due to equivocal findings from various methodologies and their interpretations. We tested this question by optogenetically exciting versus inhibiting tyrosine hydroxylase-positive (TH+) neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta while male mice produced at least a 3-s-long interval by depressing a lever for reward. Excitation of TH+ neurons shifted their timing behavior to the right, while inhibition led to a shift to the left. Our drift-diffusion timing model-based analysis of the behavioral data clearly showed that TH+ neuron excitation and inhibition heightened and lowered the timing threshold, respectively, without affecting the rate of temporal integration (i.e., clock speed). Our work attributes a clear mechanistic role (i.e., threshold setting) to nigrostriatal dopaminergic function as part of the internal clock.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".