ABSTRACT

The existence of nonlinearities in the sensitivity to time provides constraints for the development of theories of timing. The proposal that short-interval timing is mediated by multiple short-interval oscillators provides a basis for the development of a unified theory of timing that can accommodate data ranging from milliseconds to days. The observation that timing data superimpose when plotted in relative time, rather than in absolute time, has played a formative role in the development of theories of interval timing. Sensitivity to time was examined for intervals in the circadian range by measuring anticipation of restricted feeding in constant darkness. The data suggest that multiple temporal ranges are characterized by local maxima in sensitivity to time. The broadcast theory of timing proposes that timing of behavior is based on the time required for neural signals to travel different distances in the nervous system; the variance of delays is proportional to the square of the distance.