Ekaterina Proshina ^* Dina Mitiureva Olga Sysoeva

• Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology (RAS), Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia

Time perception is a fundamental cognitive function, the brain mechanisms of which are not fully understood. Recent EEG studies have shown that neural oscillations in specific frequency bands may play a role in this process. In the current study, we sought to investigate how neurophysiological activity of cortical structures relates to subjective time estimations. The study sample included 41 healthy volunteers, who were to produce subjective minutes with eyes closed and open by pressing the response button marking the beginning and end of this time interval. High-density EEG was recorded in parallel and the activity of cortical sources within the theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands was analyzed with sLORETA. The results revealed that activity of several cortical structures within the beta-band correlated with the duration of subjective minutes across participants, which highlights the role of the beta-rhythm in supra-second time perception. The sets of involved structures were different depending on eyes being open or closed, while the produced duration did not differ being around 58 s in both conditions. During eyes-closed sessions, correlations were observed with the left precuneus, left superior parietal lobule, and right superior frontal gyrus. The eyes-open condition was characterized by involvement of the caudal anterior cingulate cortex, cuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, and right lingual gyrus. Noteworthy, some structures showed tendencies towards opposite effects between conditions. Taken together, our findings bridge the gap between fMRI and EEG time perception studies and suggest reliance on different aspects of subjective experience when judging about time with eyes open or closed.