Funder: The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK)
Project Manager: Prof. Dr. Metehan Çiçek
Other Researchers:
Assoc. Prof. Güvem Gümüş Akay
Assist. Prof. Sertaç Üstün
Assoc. Prof. Nuray Varol (Consultant)
Project in detail:
Many organisms have different mechanisms to perceive time ranging from milliseconds to days. Studies suggest that people tend to experience perceived time distortion in response to negative or aversive stimuli across a number of sensory modalities. There is a wide inter-individual variation in psychophysiological responses to stressful events. It is known that these inter-individual differences are programmed during the early stages of life by epigenetic mechanisms rather than determined by genetic variations. A limited number of studies investigating the genetic factors underlying individual differences in time perception have shown that genetic variants are also insufficient to explain this variation seen in time perception. Therefore, epigenetic changes seem to be highly promising mechanisms to investigate individual differences seen in time perception which is known to be influenced by both genetic and environmental conditions.
Our project aims to evaluate the effect of psychophysiological response differences, evoked by stressful experiences, on time perception together with DNA methylation changes and functional/structural brain imaging analyses.
To this end;
i) The effects of stress on time perception will be investigated in a healthy group of people who will be exposed to psychosocial stress test with high ecological validity and the relationships of this effect with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system (HPA axis) and the brain activity will be evaluated
ii) The effect of the methylation level of NR3C1 gene, which plays a central role in the HPA axis, on brain structure and function in relation to time perception will be investigated for the first time,
iii) The effect of methylation profiles dopamine-related genes (TH, SLC6A3, DR2, and COMT) on time perception will be evaluated together with structural/functional connectivity methods that may show dopaminergic pathway interactions.
This project that aims to analyze both brain imaging data together with epigenetic data would make important contributions to the imaging genetic literature. We hope that the results of this project will motivate further studies that will evaluate time perception and DNA methylation changes in pathological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorders characterized by HPA axis imbalance
This project is carried out by a team consisting of neuroscience, physiology, psychology, genetics, and computer engineering disciplines.
Universities and disciplines of researchers: