Neurotransmitters affecting time perception

Keju Wan; Zhijie Zhang

摘要：BACKGROUND:It has been demonstrated that dopamine and acetylcholine are the main neurotransmitters that affect time perception,which is also affected by other neurotransmitters.OBJECTIVE:To summarize how the neurotransmitter affect the time perception,and put forward the perspectives for further study on time perception.RETRIEVE STRATEGY:An online search for related literatures published in English was conducted in Elsevier SDOL(ScienceDirect Online)database from May 1990 to March 2007 using key words of "timing neurotransmitter".Totally 69 literatures were collected,and they were primarily checked.Inclusive criteria:Reviews and experimental studies;correlative studies of timing neurotransmitter.Exclusive criteria:Repeated studies.LITERATURE EVALUATION:The literatures were mainly sourced from Cognitive Brain Research and Neuroscience,and they were analyzed according to the inclusive criteria.Nineteen of them were involved,and all were experimental studies and reviews.DATA SYNTHESIS:The studies on time perception are developed mainly concentrating on dopamine and acetylcholine.Dopamine D2 receptors mainly affect the speed of internal clock.Dopamine receptors play an important role in both timing excitation and inhibition,which suggests the bi-directional regulation of dopamine.Injection of dopamine agonist can affect the attention to timing information.Injection of BW813U(antagonist of acetylcholine) can induce memory disorder,which indicates the effect of acetylcholine on timing memory,and further study shows that it is the effect of acetylcholine in precentral medial area.In a word,the study on the neurotransmitters affecting time perception is still at the primary stage.CONCLUSION:Dopamine and acetylcholine are the neurotransmitters known to be related to time perception.Dopamine in the basal ganglia is related to internal-clock in the range of seconds and minutes;Acetylcholine in prefrontal cortex is related to the mechanisms of temporal memory and attention.Studies of neurotransmitter provide an approach to acknowledge on the neuromechanism of time perception.