TY - JOUR VL - 7 JF - PLoS Biology Y1 - 2009/08/04/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000167 ID - discovery1378392 N1 - © 2009 Cui et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. PMCID: PMC2711330 TI - Ready...go: Amplitude of the FMRI signal encodes expectation of cue arrival time. IS - 8 AV - public N2 - What happens when the brain awaits a signal of uncertain arrival time, as when a sprinter waits for the starting pistol? And what happens just after the starting pistol fires? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we have discovered a novel correlate of temporal expectations in several brain regions, most prominently in the supplementary motor area (SMA). Contrary to expectations, we found little fMRI activity during the waiting period; however, a large signal appears after the "go" signal, the amplitude of which reflects learned expectations about the distribution of possible waiting times. Specifically, the amplitude of the fMRI signal appears to encode a cumulative conditional probability, also known as the cumulative hazard function. The fMRI signal loses its dependence on waiting time in a "countdown" condition in which the arrival time of the go cue is known in advance, suggesting that the signal encodes temporal probabilities rather than simply elapsed time. The dependence of the signal on temporal expectation is present in "no-go" conditions, demonstrating that the effect is not a consequence of motor output. Finally, the encoding is not dependent on modality, operating in the same manner with auditory or visual signals. This finding extends our understanding of the relationship between temporal expectancy and measurable neural signals. KW - Brain KW - Cues KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Models KW - Psychological KW - Motor Activity KW - Probability KW - Reaction Time KW - Time Factors SN - 1554-9173 A1 - Cui, X A1 - Stetson, C A1 - Montague, PR A1 - Eagleman, DM ER -