Brain Functional Connectivity Changes During Learning of Time Discrimination

The human brain is a complex system consist of connected nerve cells that adapts with and learn from the environment by changing its regional activities. Synchrony between these regional activities called functional network changes during the life, and with learning of new skills. Time perception and interval discrimination are among the most necessary skills for the human being to perceive motions, coordinate the motor functions, speak and perform lots of cognitive functions. Despite its importance, the underlying mechanism of changes in brain functional connectivity pattern during learning of time intervals still needs to be well understood. In this study, we aimed to show how the changes of EEG functional connectivity associate with the learning of temporal intervals. In this regard, twelve healthy volunteers trained with an auditory time-interval discrimination task over six days while their brain activities were recorded via EEG signals during the first and the last sessions. Then, changes in regional phase synchronies were calculated using the weighted/phase lag index approach. The most effective EEG functional connections at the temporal and prefrontal regions  and in the theta and beta bands frequency. In addition, the wpli index reported more accurate values. The results showed functional connectivity at the prefrontal and the temporal regions were significantly changed by learning of interval discrimination. These findings could shed a light on better understanding of brain mechanism involved in time perception.