Processing pitch and duration in music reading: a RT-ERP study.

The originality of this study is to examine the processing of pitch and duration in music reading, using both electrophysiological and behavioral methods. Specifically, it was of interest to determine whether pitch and duration in music reading are processed independently or jointly. A probe, comprising a key and time signature was presented, and participants were required to compute the tonic and/or the best fitting duration.

Activation of the supplementary motor area and of attentional networks during temporal processing.

This paper first provides a survey of the expanding brain imaging literature in the field of time processing, showing that particular task features (discrete vs rhythmic, perceptual vs motor) do not significantly affect the basic pattern of activation observed. Next, positron emission tomography (PET) data obtained in a timing task (temporal reproduction) with two distinct duration ranges (2.2--3.

Re-evaluation of the spatial memory deficits induced by hippocampal short lasting inactivation reveals the need for cortical co-operation.

Evidence has accumulated that the rat hippocampus plays a central role in spatial memory. In complement to lesion studies, reversible lidocaïne-induced inactivations have been used to investigate the time-course of the memory processes mediated by the hippocampus. A number of studies suggest that, in some conditions, the hippocampus is not necessary for online acquisition of spatial information.

Motion perception during saccadic eye movements.

During rapid eye movements, motion of the stationary world is generally not perceived despite displacement of the whole image on the retina. Here we report that during saccades, human observers sensed visual motion of patterns with low spatial frequency. The effect was greatest when the stimulus was spatiotemporally optimal for motion detection by the magnocellular pathway.