Our capacity to process time is viewed as an ability that plays a critical role in our perception of the world around us. The ability to process time has been associated with relatively basic tasks such as planning and sequencing, and processing basic sensory input to higher order processes that are involved in everyday activities including driving, language, walking, athletics and music.
Given the widespread collection of behaviors, actions, and cognitive processes that appear to be influenced by timing, investigators have begun to speculate whether deficits in information processing and higher level cognitive processing that have been associated with dysexecutive syndrome, and various types of mental illness, may instead be due to temporal dysfunction. The scientific literature is rich with studies assessing clinical populations, and how time processing may be at the root of clinical symptomatology and deficits associated with various disorders. Included in the list of clinical disorders and/or clinical features are: aphasia, Alzheimer’s disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, apraxia of speech, traumatic brain injury, autism-spectrum disorders, and schizophrenia. These represent but a few of the many clinical disorders that are linked to time processing deficits. The breadth of disorders that link clinical symptomatology to temporal processing difficulties suggest a critical role between timing and clinical and cognitive health.
To better define the role of timing in one’s overall health, a greater understanding of situations in which intact temporal processing enhances mental and cognitive health--in addition to a more elaborate understanding of what happens when timing goes awry--is needed. Research assessing both aspects of temporal processing and the subsequent behaviors and/or symptoms are welcome.
Our capacity to process time is viewed as an ability that plays a critical role in our perception of the world around us. The ability to process time has been associated with relatively basic tasks such as planning and sequencing, and processing basic sensory input to higher order processes that are involved in everyday activities including driving, language, walking, athletics and music.
Given the widespread collection of behaviors, actions, and cognitive processes that appear to be influenced by timing, investigators have begun to speculate whether deficits in information processing and higher level cognitive processing that have been associated with dysexecutive syndrome, and various types of mental illness, may instead be due to temporal dysfunction. The scientific literature is rich with studies assessing clinical populations, and how time processing may be at the root of clinical symptomatology and deficits associated with various disorders. Included in the list of clinical disorders and/or clinical features are: aphasia, Alzheimer’s disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, apraxia of speech, traumatic brain injury, autism-spectrum disorders, and schizophrenia. These represent but a few of the many clinical disorders that are linked to time processing deficits. The breadth of disorders that link clinical symptomatology to temporal processing difficulties suggest a critical role between timing and clinical and cognitive health.
To better define the role of timing in one’s overall health, a greater understanding of situations in which intact temporal processing enhances mental and cognitive health--in addition to a more elaborate understanding of what happens when timing goes awry--is needed. Research assessing both aspects of temporal processing and the subsequent behaviors and/or symptoms are welcome.
