A subcortical circuit for time and action: insights from animal research

- Dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatal circuits subserve goal-based and habit behavior, and timing.
- Emotion/stress influences habit formation and timing.
- The amygdalo-cortico-striatal circuits modulate habit formation and timing.

Two different fields of research suggest that the same corticostriatal networks may be responsible for cognitive processes underlying goal-directed and habit-based behaviors, on the one hand, and interval timing and time-based behavior, on the other hand. Moreover, the amygdala has a modulatory role on both timing and optimization processes giving rise to routine behavior. The present review relates anatomical, physiological and behavioral arguments showing that amygdalo-corticostriatal networks subserve timing and instrumental performance during learning, depending on the emotional state of the subjects. As the same circuits may underlie the particularly high attentional resources on demand during temporal processing, the question is raised of a possible automatization of time-based behaviors.