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.