BEHAVIORAL AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE SPECIFIC PROCESSING OF TEMPORAL INFORMATION

The attentional model of time estimation assumes that specific chronom etric mechanisms are involved in the processing of temporal informatio n, The two experiments reported here provide evidence in favour of thi s model. The first study, which uses the method of attentional sharing in a dual-task paradigm (discrimination of the intensity and the dura tion of a visual stimulus), shows that controlled attention can be app lied to the processing of temporal information and that subjective dur ation shortens when the attention paid to time decreases. The second o ne, by comparing brain activities recorded during a temporal and a non temporal tasks, suggests that certain prefrontal areas are involved in temporal processing.