Contributions of dopaminergic signaling to timing accuracy and precision

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.