Your brain is always keeping track of time, whether it's regulating the speed of your speech, calculating the minutes until your next snack, or timing the breaks between your text messages.

Without this innate timing mechanism, you might misunderstand your friends, or even worse, miss out on your precious donut time. But how does your amazing brain seamlessly navigate the complexities of time in your daily life?

While neuroscientists haven't fully unraveled the intricate workings of the nerves responsible for time perception, they do know that it's not a singular process confined to one part of your brain.

Different regions of the gray matter respond to various timing tasks, and through brain imaging, researchers can pinpoint which area corresponds to specific functions.

From drumming to the rhythm of phrases to gauging the duration of a speech, the collaboration among these distinct areas enhances and shapes our comprehensive understanding of time.

1. Stopwatch Functionality

When your brain detects a signal from your surroundings, like the tempting aroma of French fries, the supplementary motor area acts as a stopwatch.

The activation of this area prolongs the duration of the external stimulus. As long as the external signal persists, neurons in the supplementary motor area remain active, storing the information for the rest of the brain.

2. Memory's Role

Estimating time is impossible without short-term memory, located in the right inferior frontal cortex behind your forehead. For instance, if you want to calculate the duration of a baby's cry, this area records the time when the cry started and stopped. Without memory, the signal of a baby crying a few seconds ago vanishes from the brain.

3. Sequencing Events

For humans to function effectively, we must recognize the sequential order of events, such as the syllables of a word, the steps of a dance, or the morning routine.

In MRI studies, the hippocampus area of the brain lights up when categorizing events, indicating its involvement in this cognitive process.

4. Rhythm Coordination

The cerebellum, responsible for coordinating muscle movement, is involved in various timing tasks, especially maintaining rhythm. In research subjects, the cerebellum lights up during predictive timing tasks like tapping rhythms, helping determine the duration between beats.

5. Reward-Based Timing

If you have a penchant for chocolate, you're likely willing to wait patiently for the right moment. Thank a peculiarly shaped cluster of neurons called the basal ganglia. This area contributes to delay discounting, guiding you on how long to wait or not wait based on the anticipated reward.

Despite advancements in neuroscience, there is an ongoing debate about how a group of cells can effectively track time. The latest theory, known as the population clock theory, suggests that it's the collective activity of neurons throughout the brain, rather than a centralized gray matter, that continuously keeps the time.