[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6327\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EHow the brain manipulates time to give us our sense of now\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn fact, our brains tidy up the signals we receive from the external environment all the time to make our experience of the present more plausible than it really is, according to researchers looking into how we understand what is \u2018now\u2019.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research is part of a series of projects looking at how we process time in the brain and use information we receive to predict future events.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Virginie van Wassenhove, a neuroscientist at CEA Saclay in France, runs the MINDTIME project, funded by the EU\u0027s European Research Council (ERC), which is trying to decode our mental representation of time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe and her team \u003Ca style=\u0022font-size: 13.008px; line-height: 1.538em;\u0022 href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24531044\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eperformed an experiment\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;whereby they simplified the lip-synch effect into a series of flashes and beeps going off every second.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018That the brain has the capacity to recalibrate its timing - that\u0026#039;s very powerful.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Virginie van Wassenhove, CEA Saclay, France\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese stimulated an oscillating response of activity in the brain at the same frequency, which the researchers measured using a helmet sensitive to fast-changing magnetic signals in the brain. They found that, if the flashes and the beeps are desynchronised, the brain quickly recalibrates its response to make the audio and visual inputs simultaneous.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis flexibility of the brain means that we are continually adjusting and constructing our experience of \u2018now\u2019. To some extent, \u0027the present\u0027 is a bendy, flexible entity that our brains choose depending on what we are seeing or hearing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I\u2019m super excited about this,\u2019 said Prof. van Wassenhove. \u2018That the brain has the capacity to recalibrate its timing - that\u0027s very powerful. It means that the brain can change the simultaneity of events in the world to make our experience more plausible.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENeural code\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers are investigating whereabouts in our brains our concept of time lies. In the same way that we have a neural code for seeing the colour \u0027red\u0027, with this property coded in our neurons to represent the physical world, we must also have cognitive neural code for thinking about and experiencing time as an intelligible awareness.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Timing is everywhere, so when we study timing we are looking at the foundation of neural codes,\u2019 said Prof. van Wassenhove. \u2018Without good temporal mechanisms you\u2019re not going to be able to plan a future for yourself, so it has huge implications.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPreparing for the future, at least in terms of immediate events, is something we are quite good at doing without any conscious effort. In Italy, another group of researchers has been investigating how the brain sorts through patterns of events to come up with predictions of what will happen next in the general environment we are in, a process known as statistical learning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This could allow us to notice something as mundane as the leaves blowing in a different direction,\u2019 says Professor Uri Hasson from the University of Trento, who is investigating statistical learning and prediction in the brain as part of the ERC-funded NEUROINT project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Hasson and his team are interested in finding out what sort of short-timescale, repetitive patterns our brains are able to pick up on and use to predict the future without us having to actually calculate percentages or probabilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPatterns\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey have found that some parts of our brains are less active or less connected when presented with either completely random information or simple, regular patterns - which could be caused by something like a dripping tap - but spring into action when faced with more complex patterns - this could equate to something like a mouse rustling in a bag.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFocusing our attention on patterns that are complex but not too random means that we can quickly analyse new environments at a fairly abstract level and compress the information, improving efficiency.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027This is one of the most interesting results of our research program,\u0027 says Prof. Hasson.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-vwpdwiymvmvduz3yidmsgwivbewoq4-gpc0ztsqhavi\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-VwPDWIYmvMvduZ3yiDmsGWIVBewoQ4-Gpc0ztSqHaVI\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]