Dopaminergic processes predict temporal distortions in event memory
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Our memories do not simply keep time — they warp it, bending the past to fit the structure of our experiences. For example, people tend to remember items as occurring farther apart in time if they spanned a change in context, or ‘event boundary,’ compared to the same context. While these distortions can sacrifice precise timing, they may serve to help separate temporally adjacent memories. However, the neural bases of this phenomenon are poorly understood. Here, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; n = 32) with eye-tracking ( n = 28) to test whether the dopaminergic system, known to influence encoding and time perception, predicts time dilation between adjacent events in memory. Participants encoded item sequences while listening to tones that mostly repeated over time, forming a stable auditory context, but occasionally switched, creating an event boundary. We found that boundaries predicted greater retrospective estimates of time between item pairs. Critically, tone switches significantly activated the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a key midbrain dopaminergic region, and these responses in turn predicted greater time dilation between item pairs spanning those switches. Boundaries furthermore predicted a momentary increase in blinks. VTA activation also predicted blinking in general, consistent with the idea that blink behavior is a potential marker of dopaminergic activity. On a larger timescale, higher blink rates predicted greater time dilation in memory, but only for boundary-spanning pairs. Together, these findings suggest that dopaminergic processes are sensitive to event structure and may drive temporal distortions that help disjoin memories of distinct events.
Significance
Meaningful changes in the environment can exaggerate the remembered time between experiences, suggesting a link between temporal distortions and the creation of distinct episodic memories. Here, we combined fMRI and eye-tracking with a paradigm that assessed temporal memory for item pairs encountered within and across task-relevant contexts. We found that contextual changes predicted activation in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and momentary increases in blinking, both potential markers of dopaminergic activity. VTA activation and more prolonged periods of blinking across boundaries were also associated with greater time dilation in memory. Our findings extend the relationship between dopamine and time perception to episodic memory, revealing how the ebb and flow of experience might bend memories of time to represent discrete events.
