Research Focus

How does the brain perceive time and space? Philosophers may debate the nature of each, but my lab aims to empirically study how the brain constructs these dimensions. To do this, my lab uses a variety of different tools in the armamentarium of Cognitive Neuroscience: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Electroencephalography (EEG), and Psychophysics. Additionally, my lab focuses on combining different techniques, such as simultaneous TMS-EEG or fMRI-EEG, to enhance their power and the repertoire of questions that can be asked.

Even more exciting: we are not just interested in time and space alone, but what they are used for. For time, a major use of interest is the perception of rhythm and music. For space, we are interested in how this dimension is used for navigation and processing value.

Current Projects

■ Effect of action on timing

■ Rhythmic attention and sampling

■ Impact of concussion on predictive mechanisms

■ Modality dependent nature of time

Select Publications

■ M. Wiener et al., Functional correlates of likelihood and prior representations in a virtual distance task. Human Brain Mapping 37, 3172-3187 (2016).

■ M. Wiener et al., Repetition enhancement and memory effects for duration. NeuroImage 113, 268-278 (2015).

■ M. Wiener et al., Parietal influence on temporal encoding indexed by simultaneous transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography. Journal of Neuroscience 32, 12258-12267 (2012).

■ M. Wiener et al., Double dissociation of dopamine genes and timing in humans. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23, 2811-2821 (2011).