Neural pattern change during encoding of a narrative predicts retrospective duration estimates

What mechanisms support our ability to estimate durations on the order of
minutes? Behavioral studies in humans have shown that changes in
contextual features lead to overestimation of past durations. Based on
evidence that the medial temporal lobes and prefrontal cortex represent
contextual features, we related the degree of fMRI pattern change in these
regions with people's subsequent duration estimates. After listening
to a radio story in the scanner, participants were asked how much time had
elapsed between pairs of clips from the story. Our ROI analysis found that
the neural pattern distance between two clips at encoding was correlated
with duration estimates in the right entorhinal cortex and right pars
orbitalis. Moreover, a whole-brain searchlight analysis revealed a cluster
spanning the right anterior temporal lobe. Our findings provide convergent
support for the hypothesis that retrospective time judgments are driven by
'drift' in contextual representations supported by these
regions. 23 subjects were scanned in a 3T full-body MRI scanner while
listening to a 25-minute (and 34-second) radio story called "Tunnel
Under the World" Download the README.txt file for a detailed
description of this dataset's content