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The Importance of Timing in the Brain – Dr. Kevin McGrew
For more than 30 years, neuroscientists have explored the role of timing in the brain for such things as speech perception (auditory processing), speech production (intelligible articulation), language, reading, attention, memory, cognitive processing speed, decision-making, behavior (impulse-control), and motor coordination. Over the past 10-15 years, they’ve turned their focus toward studying how deficient neural communication (impaired timing in the brain) contributes to various clinical disorders like autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Parkinson’s. “Timing in the brain” remains a very active area of research with new studies being published regularly.
Peer-reviewed research supports the view that impaired timing in the brain contributes significantly to impairments in the above named skill areas. Research also supports the opinion that timing in the brain can be trained and improved through appropriate, targeted intervention. Each study referenced below contains commentary to help elucidate the connection between timing in the brain, its central role in various human abilities and disorders, and how the Interactive Metronome may be of benefit. The studies referenced here were not conducted using the Interactive Metronome.
Houghton, S., Durkin, K., Ang, R.P., Taylor, M.F., and Brandtman, M. (2011). Measuring Temporal
Self-Regulation in Children With and Without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Sense of Time in
Everyday Contexts. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 27(2), 88-94.
Kennedy Krieger Institute (2011, June 10). Brain imaging study of preschoolers with ADHD detects brain
differences linked to symptoms.
Koflet, M.J., Rapport, M.D., Bolden, J., Sarver, D.E., Raiker, J.S., and Alderson, R.M. (2011). Working
memory deficits and social problems in children with ADHD. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39,
805-817.
Gilden, D.L. and Marusich, L.R. (2009). Contraction of Time in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Neuropsychology, 23(2), 265-269.
Nanda, N.J., Rommelse, M.S., Oosterlaan, J., Buitelaar, J., Faraone, S.V., and Sergeant, J.A. (2007). Time
reproduction in children with ADHD and their nonaffected siblings. Journal of the American Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46, 5
Ben-Pazi, H., Shalev, R.S., Gross-Tsur, V. and Bergman, H. (2006). Age and medication effects on rhythmic
responses in ADHD: Possible oscillatory mechanisms? Neuropsychologia, 44, 412-416.
Casey, B.J. and Durston, S. (2006). From Behavior to Cognition to the Brain and Back: What Have We Learned
from Functional Imaging Studies of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? American Journal of Psychiatry,
163, 6.
Breier, J.I., Fletcher, J.M., Foorman, B.R., Klaas, P., and Gray, L.C. (2003). Auditory Temporal Processing
in Children with Specific Reading Disability With and Without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
University of Texas, Houston. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 31-42.
Toplak, M.E., Rucklidge, J.J., Hetherington, R., John, S.C.F., and Tannock, R. (2003). Time perception deficits
in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and comorbid reading difficulties in child and adolescent
samples. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44(6), 888-903.
Shaffer R.J., Jacokes L.E., Cassily J.F., Greenspan S.I., Tuchman R.F., Stemmer P.J. Jr. (2001). Effect
of Interactive Metronome on children with ADHD. American Journal of Occupational Therapy,
55, 155–162.
Chun, M.M., Golomb, J.D., and Turk-Browne, N.B. (2011). A taxonomy of external and internal attention. Annual Review
of Psychology, 62, 73-101.
Posner, M.I. and Rothbart, M.K. (2007). Research on attention networks as a model for the integration of
psychological science. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 1-23.
Taub. G., McGrew, K.S., and Keith, T.Z. (2007). Improvement in interval timing tracking and effects on reading
achievement. Psychology in the Schools, 44(8), 849-863.
Hall, M.D. and Blasko, D.G. (2005). Attentional interference in judgments of musical timbre: Individual differences
in working memory. The Journal of General Psychology, 132(1), 94-112.
Alpiner, Neal. (2004). The role of functional MRI in defining auditory-motor processing networks. White paper
presented at 65th Annual American Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
Kane, M.J., Hambrick, D.Z., Tuholski, S.W., Wilhelm, O., Payne, T.W., and Engle, R.W. (2004). The generality of
working memory capacity: A latent-variable approach to verbal and visuospatial memory span and reasoning. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General, 133(2), 189-217.
Miyake, Y., Onishi, Y., and Pöppel, E. (2004). Two types of anticipation in synchronization tapping. Acta
Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 64, 415-426.
Unsworth, N., Schrock, J.C., and Engle, R.W. (2004). Working memory capacity and the antisaccade task: Individual
differences in voluntary saccade control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,
30(6), 1302-1321.
Kane, M.J. and Engle, R.W. (2003). Working-memory capacity and the control of attention: The contribution of goal
neglect, response competition, and task set to Stroop interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,
132(1), 47-70.
Kane, M.J. and Engle, R.W. (2002). The role of prefrontal cortex in working-memory capacity, executive attention,
and general fluid intelligence: An individual-difference perspective. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9(4),
637-671.
Meck, W.H. and Benson, A.M. (2002). Dissecting the brain’s internal clock: How frontal – striatal circuitry keeps
time and shifts attention. Brain and Cognition, 48, 195-211.
Ben-Shakhar, G. and Sheffer, L. (2001). The relationship between the ability to divide attention and standard
measures of general cognitive abilities. Intelligence, 29: 293-306.
Kane, M.J., Blecky, M.K., Conway, A.R.A., and Engle, R.W. (2001) A controlled attention view of working-memory
capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 130(2), 169-183.
Pashler, H., Johnston, J.C., and Ruthruff, E. (2001). Attention and performance. Annual Review of Psychology, 52,
629-651.
Kraus, N. and Banai, K. (2007). Auditory-processing malleability. Current Directions in Psychological Science,
16(2), 105-110.
McAuley, J.D. & Miller, N.S. (2007). Picking up the pace: Effects of global temporal context on sensitivity to
tempo of auditory sequences. Perception & Psychophysics, 69(5), 709-718.
Phillips-Silver, J. and Trainor, L.J. (2007). Hearing what the body feels: Auditory encoding of rhythmic movement.
Cognition, 105, 533-546.
Bergeson, T.R. and Trehub, S.E. (2006). Infants’ perception of rhythmic patterns. Music Perception, 23(4),
345-360.
Tallal, P. and Gaab, N. (2006). Dynamic auditory processing, musical experience, and language development. Trends in
Neurosciences, 29(7), 382-390.
Eck, D. and Scott, S.K. (2005). New research in rhythm perception and production. Music Perception, 22(3),
365-369.
Zanto, T.P., Large, E.W., Fuchs, A., and Scott, J.A. (2005). Gamma-band responses to perturbed auditory sequences:
Evidence for synchronization of perceptual processes. Music Perception, 22(3), 531-547.
Mauk, M.D. and Buonomano, D.V. (2004). The neural basis of temporal processing. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27,
307-340.
de Cheveigne, A. (2003). Time-domain auditory processing of speech. Journal of Phonetics, 31, 547-561.
Kello, C.T. (2003). Patterns of timing in the acquisition, perception, and production of speech. Journal of
Phonetics, 31, 619-626.
Nguyen, N. and Hawkins, S. (2003). Temporal integration in the perception of speech: Introduction. Journal of
Phonetics, 31, 279-287.
Shamma, S. (2003). Physiological foundations of temporal integration in the perception of speech. Journal of
Phonetics, 31, 495-501.
Hirsh, I.J. & Watson, C.S. (1996). Auditory psychophysics and perception. Annual Review of Psychology, 47,
461-484.
Nicholas, B., Rudrasingham, V., Nash, S., Kirov, G., Own, M.J., and Wimpory, D.C. (2007). Association of Per1 and
Npas2 with autistic disorder: Support for the clock genes/social timing hypothesis. Molecular Psychiatry, 12,
581-592.
Wimpory, D. (2002). Social timing clock genes and autism: A new hypothesis. Journal of Intellectual Disability
Research, 46(4), 352-358.
Mantyla, T., Carelli, M.G., and Forman, H. (2007). Time monitoring and executive functioning in children and adults.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 96, 1-19.
Pictno, T.W., Stuss, D.T., Shallice, T., Alexander, M.P., and Gillingham, S. (2006). Keeping time: Effects of focal
frontal lesions. Neuropsychologia, 44, 1195-1209.
Pouthas, V. and Perbal, S. (2004). Time perception depends on accurate clock mechanisms as well as unimpaired
attention and memory processes. Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 64, 367-385.
Zakay, D. & Block, R.A. (2004). Prospective and retrospective duration judgments: An executive-control
perspective, Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 64, 319-328.
Palladino, P., Mammarella, N., and Vecchia, T. (2003). Modality-specific effects in inhibitory mechanisms: The
interaction of peripheral and central components in working memory. Brain and Cognition, 53, 263-267.
Kevin McGrew, PhD, Director of the Institute of Applied Psychometrics and critical member of the Interactive
Metronome Scientific Advisory Board, has compiled a bibliography of references for research on dyslexia. Please use
this link to access the list.
Kevin McGrew. (2007). “Temporal processing” and “dyslexia” keyword matches in IAP (www.iapsychy.com)
Reference Database
Boets, B., Wouters, J, van Wieringen, A, and Ghesquiere, P. (2007). Auditory processing, speech perception and
phonological ability in pre-school children at high-risk for dyslexia: A longitudinal study of the auditory temporal
processing theory. Neuropsychologia, 45, 1608-1620.
Haslum, M.N. & Miles, T.R. (2007) Motor performance and dyslexia in a national cohort of 10-year-old children.
Dyslexia, 13, 257-275.
Richards and Berninger. (2007). Having right timing ‘connections’ in brain is key to overcoming dyslexia. National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Back to Eurek Alert.
Santos, A., Joly-Pottuz, B., Moreno, S., Habib, M., and Besson, M. (2007). Behavioural and event-related potentials
evidence for pitch discrimination deficits in dyslexic children: Improvement after intensive phonic intervention.
Neuropsychologia, 45, 1080-1090.
Thomson, J.M., Fryer, B., Maltby, J., and Goswami, U. (2006). Auditory and motor rhythm awareness in adults with
dyslexia. Journal of Research in Reading, 29(3), 334-348.
Edwards, V.T., Giaschi, D.E., Dougherty, R.F., Edgell, D., Bjornson, B.H., Lyons, C., and Douglas, R.M. (2004).
Psychological indexes of temporal processing abnormalities in children with developmental dyslexia. Developmental
Neuropsychology, 25(3), 321-354.
Valdios, S., Bosseane, M.L., and Tainturier, M.J. (2004). The cognitive deficits responsible for developmental
dyslexia: Review of evidence for a selective visual attentional disorder. Dyslexia, 10, 339-363.
McAnally, K.I., Castles, A., and Stuart, G.W. (2003). Visual and auditory processing impairments in subtypes of
developmental dyslexia: A discussion. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 12(2), 145-156.
Virsu, V., Lahti-Nuuttila, P., and Laasonen, M. (2003). Crossmodal temporal processing acuity impairment aggravates
with age in developmental dyslexia. Neuroscience Letters, 336, 151-154.
Laasonen, M., Service, E., and Virsu, V. (2002). Crossmodal temporal order and processing acuity in developmentally
dyslexic young adults. Brain and Language, 80, 340-354.
Rey, V., De Martino, S., Espesser, R., and Habib, M. (2002). Temporal processing and phonological impairment in
dyslexia: Effect of phoneme lengthening on order judgment of two consonants. Brain and Language, 80, 576-591.
Shaywitz, B.A., Shaywitz, S.E., Pugh, K.R., Mencl, W.E., Fulbright, R.K., Skudlarski, P., Constable, R.T.,
Marchione, K.E., Fletcher, J.M., Lyon, G.R., and Gore, J.C. (2002). Disruption of posterior brain systems for
reading in children with developmental dyslexia. Society of Biological Psychiatry, 52, 101-110.
Hari, R. & Renvall, H. (2001). Impaired processing of rapid stimulus sequences in dyslexia. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 5(12), 525-532.
Schulte-Körne, G. Deimel, W., Bartling, J., and Remschmidt, H. (1999). The role of phonological awareness, speech
perception, and auditory temporal processing for dyslexia. European Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,
8(3), 28-34.
Farmer, M.E. & Klein, R.M. (1995). The evidence for a temporal processing deficit linked to dyslexia: A review.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2(4), 460-493.
Klein, R.M. & Farmer, M.E. (1995). Dyslexia and a temporal processing deficit: A reply to the commentaries.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2(4), 515-526.
Martin, R.C. (1995). Heterogeneity of deficits in developmental dyslexia and implications for methodology.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2(4), 494-500.
Madison, G., Forsman, L., Blom, Ö., Karabanov, A., and Ullén, F. (2009). Correlations between intelligence and
components of serial timing variability. Intelligence, 37(1), 68-75
Ullén, F., Forsman, L., Blom, Ö., Karabanov, A., and Madison, G. (2008). Intelligence and variability in a simple
timing task share neural substrates in the prefrontal white matter. The Journal of Neuroscience, 28(16),
4238-4243.
Maytyla, T., Carelli, M.G., and Forman, H. (2007). Time monitoring and executive functioning in children and adults.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 96, 1-19.
Taub. G., McGrew, K.S., and Keith, T.Z. (2007). Improvement in interval timing tracking and effects on reading
achievement. Psychology in the Schools, 44(8), 849-863.
Zakay, D. & Block, R.A. (2004). Prospective and retrospective duration judgments: An executive control
perspective. Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 64, 319-328.
Palladino, P., Mammarella, N., and Vecchia, T. (2003). Modality-specific effects in the inhibitory mechanisms: The
interaction of peripheral and central components in working memory. Brain and Cognition, 53, 263-267.
Whitney, P., Arnett, P.A., Driver, A., and Budd, D. (2001). Measuring central executive functioning: What’s in a
reading span? Brain and Cognition, 45, 1-14.
Hembold, N., Troche, S., and Rammsayer, T. (2007). Processing of temporal and nontemporal information as predictors
of psychometric intelligence. Journal of Personality, 75(5), 985-1006.
Chabris, C.F. (2006). Cognitive and Neurobiological Mechanisms of the Law of General Intelligence. Integrating the
Mind. Hove, UK: Psychological Press.
Hembold, N., Troche, S, and Rammsayer, T. (2006). Temporal information processing and pitch discrimination as
predictors of general intelligence. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60(4), 294-306.
Stankov, L., Danthiir, V., Williams, L.M., Pallier, G., Roberts, R.D., and Gordon, E. (2006). Intelligence and the
tuning-in of brain networks. Learning and Individual Differences, 16, 217-233.
Chiappe, D. & Macdonald, K. (2005). The evolution of domain-general mechanisms in intelligence and learning. The
Journal of General Psychology, 132(1), 5-40.
Fink, A, Neubauer, A.C. (2005). Individual differences in time estimation related to cognitive ability, speed of
information processing and working memory. Intelligence, 33, 5-26.
Conway, Andrew R.A., Kane, M.J., and Engle, R.W. (2003). Working memory capacity and its relation to general
intelligence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(12), 547-552.
Engle, R.W., Tuholski, S.W., Laughlin, J.E., and Conway, Andrew R.A. (1999). Working memory, short term memory, and
general fluid intelligence: A latent-variable approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology, General, 128(3),
309-331.
Botzung, A., Denkova, E., and Manning, L. (2008). Experiencing past and future personal events: Functional
neuroimaging evidence on the neural bases of mental time travel. Brain and Cognition, 66, 202-212.
Colflesh, J.H. & Conway, R.A. (2007). Individual differences in working memory capacity and divided attention in
dichotic listening. Bulletin & Review, 14(4), 699-703.
Delgado, M.L. & Droit-Volet, S. (2007). Testing the representation of time in reference memory in the bisection
and the generalization task: The utility of a developmental approach. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental
Psychology, 60(6), 820-836.
Droit-Volet, S., Wearden, J., and Delgado-Yonger, M. (2007). Short-term memory for time in children and adults: A
behavioral study and a model. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 97(4), 246-264.
Fortin, C., Champagnea, J, and Poirierb, M. (2007). Temporal order in memory and interval timing: An interference
analysis. Acta Psychologica, 126(1), 18-33.
Baudouin, A., Vanneste, S., Isingrini, M., and Pouthas, V. (2006). Differential involvement of internal clock and
working memory in the production and reproduction of duration: A study on older adults. Acta Psychologica, 121,
285-296.
Sayala, S., Sala, J.B., and Courtney, S.M. (2006). Increased neural efficiency with repeated performance of a
working memory task is information-type dependent. Cerebral Cortex, 16, 609-617.
Conway, Andrew R.A., Kane, M.J., Bunting, M.F., Hambrick, D. Zach, Wilhelm, O., and Engle, R.W. (2005). Working
memory span tasks: A methodological review and user’s guide. Bulletin & Review, 12(5), 769-786.
Fink, A, Neubauer, A.C. (2005). Individual differences in time estimation related to cognitive ability, speed of
information processing and working memory. Intelligence, 33, 5-26.
Hall, M.D. & Blasko, D.G. (2005). Attentional interference in judgments of musical timbre: Individual
differences in working memory. The Journal of General Psychology, 132(1), 94-112.
Barrett, L.F., Tugade, M.M., and Engle, R. (2004). Individual differences in working memory capacity and
dual-process theories of the mind. Psychological Bulletin, 130(4), 553-573.
Field, D. T. & Groeger, J.A. (2004). Temporal interval production and short-term memory. Perception &
Psychophysics, 66(5), 808-819.
Unsworth, N., Schrock, J.C., and Engle, R.W. (2004). Working memory capacity and the antisaccade task: individual
differences in voluntary saccade control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,
30(6), 1302-1321.
Palladino, P., Mammarella, N., and Vecchia, T. (2003). Modality-specific effects in the inhibitory mechanisms: The
interaction of peripheral and central components in working memory. Brain and Cognition, 53, 263-267.
Rosenbaum, D.A. (2002). Time, space, and short-term memory. Brain and Cognition, 48, 52-65.
Fortin, C. (1999). Short-term memory time interval production. International Journal of Psychology,
34(5/6), 308-316.
Fortin, C., Champagnea, J, and Poirier, M. (2007). Temporal order in memory and interval timing: An interference
analysis. Acta Psychologica, 126(1), 18-33.
Lewis, P.A. (2006). Emotion, memory, and the perception of time. The University of Liverpool. Unpublished white
paper.
Lewis, P.A. & Walsh, V. (2005). Time perception: Components of the brain’s clock. Current Biology, 15(10),
R389-R391.
Mauk, M.D. & Buonomano, D.V. (2004). The neural basis of temporal processing. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27,
307-340.
Nobre, A.C. & O’Reilly, J. (2004). Time is of the essence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(9), 387-389.
Rubia, K. & Smith, A. (2004). The neural correlates of cognitive time management: A review. Acta Neurobiologiae
Experimentalis, 64, 329-340.
Buonomano, D.V. & Karmarker, U.R. (2002). How do we tell time? Neuroscientist, 8(42), 42-51.
Lewis, P.A. (2002). Finding the timer. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(5), 195-196.
Rao, S.M., Mayer, A.R., and Harrington, D.L. (2001). The evolution of brain activation during temporal processing.
Nature Neuroscience, 4(3), 317-323.
Bengtsson, S.L., Ullen, F., Ehrsson, H.H., Hashimoto, T., Kito, T., Naito, E., Forssberg, H., and Sadato, N. (2009).
Listening to rhythms activates motor and premotor cortices. Cortex, 45, 62-71.
Jantzen, K.J., Oullier, O., Marshall, M., Steinberg, F.L., and Kelso, J.A.Ss. (2007). A parametric fMRI
investigation of context effects on sensorimotor timing and coordination. Neuropsychologia, 45, 673-684.
Larue, J. (2005). Initial learning of timing in combined serial movements and a no-movement situation. Music
Perception, 22(3), 509-530.
Ivry, R., Diedrichsen, J., Spencer, R., Hazeltine, E., and Semien, A. (2004). A cognitive neuroscience perspectivce
on bimanual coordination and interference. In S.P. Swinnen & J. Duysens (Eds.), Neuro-Behavioral Determinants of
Interlimb Coordination: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Chapter 9). New York: Springer Publishing.
Lewis, P.A., Wing, A.M., Pope, P.A. Praamstra, P., and Miall, R.C. (2004). Brain activity correlates differentially
with increasing temporal complexity of rhythms during initialization, synchronization, and continuation phases of
paced finger tapping. Neuropsychologia, 42(10), 1301-1312.
Spencer, R.M.C., Zelaznik, H.N., Diedrichsen, J., and Ivry, R.B. (2003). Disrupted timing of discontinuous but not
continuous movements by cerebellar lesions. Science, 300(5624), 1437-1442.
Wearden, J.H. (2008). Slowing down an internal clock: Implications for accounts of performance on four timing tasks.
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(2), 263-274.
Droit-Volet, S. & Wearden, J. (2002). Speeding up an internal clock in children? Effects of visual flicker on
subjective duration. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55B(3), 193-211.
Penton-Voak, I.S., Edwards, H., Percival, A., and Wearden, J.H. (1996). Speeding up and internal clock in humans?
Effects of click trains on subjective duration. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 22(3), 307-320.
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