Adaptive neural models of queuing and timing in fluent action.

In biological cognition, specialized representations and associated control processes solve the temporal problems inherent in skilled action. Recent data and neural circuit models highlight three distinct levels of temporal structure: sequence preparation, velocity scaling, and state-sensitive timing. Short sequences of actions are prepared collectively in prefrontal cortex, then queued for performance by a cyclic competitive process that operates on a parallel analog representation. Successful acts like ball-catching depend on coordinated scaling of effector velocities, and velocity scaling, mediated by the basal ganglia, may be coupled to perceived time-to-contact. Making acts accurate at high speeds requires state-sensitive and precisely timed activations of muscle forces in patterns that accelerate and decelerate the effectors. The cerebellum may provide a maximally efficient representational basis for learning to generate such timed activation patterns.