Contributions of dopaminergic signaling to timing accuracy and precision

- Accuracy and precision are important features of interval timing.
- DA AGO/ANT mainly affect interval timing accuracy by altering the clock speed.
- Striatal DRD1 or DRD2 alteration impacts on interval timing.
- DA metabolism in the DS is subjected to circadian control.
- Interval timing is seriously affected in human pathologies with DA dysfunction.

Existing evidence suggests that interval timing, processing of temporal information in the hundredth of milliseconds-to-minutes range, recruits broad brain regions such as cortico-striatal circuits via dopaminergic-glutamatergic pathways. In this review, we summarize recent findings on the neurobiological basis of interval timing with a special focus on dopaminergic modulations of temporal information. Two properties of interval timing - accuracy and precision - are used to examine recent results from manipulations of dopaminergic signaling and the resulting distortions in temporal processing.