How does your brain track time?

Dr. Xin Jin

【摘要】

Time has been a mysterious topic as long as human history. How does the brain track time remains largely unknown. Proper timing is critical for any goal-directed behavior to be successful. People and animals can routinely track time at the seconds to minutes level, and plan their actions accordingly. The underlying brain circuits and neural computation, however, are yet to be elucidated. In this talk, I’ll present the latest results from my lab on the neural circuits and behavioral mechanisms of interval timing. By combining behavioral analyses, in vivo electrophysiology, genetic and optogenetic tools in mice, we unveiled a novel sensorimotor mechanism in the brain for the animals to track time and control action accurately. More broadly, we argue that perception, cognition and action are more tightly connected with each other than traditionally thought.

【人物简介】

Dr. Xin Jin is an Associate Professor of Molecular Neurobiology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He received his B.S. degree on Applied Physics from China Agricultural University in 2002, and his Ph.D. on Biomedical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2007. He was a postdoctoral fellow in National Institutes of Health from 2007 to 2011. He joined the Salk Institute for Biological Studies as an Assistant Professor in 2012 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018. His work on basal ganglia circuitry and action control have been published in Nature, Cell, Nature Neuroscience and Neuron etc., and recognized by numerous international awards, including Portuguese Society for Neuroscience Featured Article Award, NIH Benedict J. Latteri Memorial Award, Society for Neuroscience Gruber International Research Award, and Mcknight Memory and Cognitive Disorders Award.