Field: Neuroscience › Cognitive NeuroscienceType: Couldn't replicate a published resultArea: time perceptionTarget: Contingent negative variation (CNV) as a direct timing signalStage: replication
Hypothesis
CNV amplitude over the supplementary motor area tracks the unfolding of time, so it should vary with timing performance, as Macar et al. (1999) reported.
What failed
Two replication studies did not find the expected performance-dependent CNV changes, and more powerful linear mixed-effects analyses also found no link between performance and CNV amplitude. Habituation effects on the CNV did appear.
Broken assumption
The CNV amplitude is a direct readout of an internal time accumulator.
Why
Habituation is not expected if the CNV is a pure time-accumulation signal, so the authors conclude the CNV does not directly reflect elapsed time.
From the published paper: Kononowicz et al. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 2011. ↗CC BY