Showing papers on "Time perception published in 2021"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the effect of temporal context on the subjective perception of time and found that longer previous durations decreased contingent negative variation and P2 amplitude and increased beta power.
Abstract: Our subjective perception of time is optimized to temporal regularities in the environment. This is illustrated by the central tendency effect: When estimating a range of intervals, short intervals are overestimated, whereas long intervals are underestimated to reduce the overall estimation error. Most models of interval timing ascribe this effect to the weighting of the current interval with previous memory traces after the interval has been perceived. Alternatively, the perception of the duration could already be flexibly tuned to its temporal context. We investigated this hypothesis using an interval reproduction task in which human participants (both sexes) reproduced a shorter and longer interval range. As expected, reproductions were biased toward the subjective mean of each presented range. EEG analyses showed that temporal context indeed affected neural dynamics during the perception phase. Specifically, longer previous durations decreased contingent negative variation and P2 amplitude and increased beta power. In addition, multivariate pattern analysis showed that it is possible to decode context from the transient EEG signal quickly after both onset and offset of the perception phase. Together, these results suggest that temporal context creates dynamic expectations which actively affect the perception of duration.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The subjective sense of duration does not arise in isolation, but is informed by previous experiences. This is demonstrated by abundant evidence showing that the production of duration estimates is biased toward previously experienced time intervals. However, it is yet unknown whether this temporal context actively affects perception or only asserts its influence in later, postperceptual stages as proposed by most current formal models of this task. Using an interval reproduction task, we show that EEG signatures flexibly adapt to the temporal context during perceptual encoding. Furthermore, interval history can be decoded from the transient EEG signal even when the current duration was identical. Thus, our results demonstrate that context actively influences perception.
19 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated whether individual differences in future time perception and the detail with which future events are imagined are related to children's delay of gratification and found a strong correlation between delay choice and delay discounting.
Abstract: We investigated whether individual differences in future time perception and the detail with which future events are imagined are related to children's delay of gratification. We administered a delay choice task (real rewards), a delay discounting task (hypothetical rewards), a novel future time perception measure, an episodic future thinking (EFT) interview and IQ measures to a sample of 7- to 11-year-olds (N = 132) drawn from a urban predominately white population in N. Ireland. We found a strong correlation between delay choice and delay discounting. Future time perception and EFT were related to delay discounting, however only the relation with future time perception survived controlling for age and IQ. Children who showed greater compression of future time periods were the steepest discounters.
16 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, viscous movement environments were introduced to externally modulate movement and investigated the resulting effects on temporal perception in two separate tasks, participants timed auditory intervals while moving a robotic arm that randomly applied four levels of viscosity.
Abstract: Interval timing is a fundamental component of action and is susceptible to motor-related temporal distortions Previous studies have shown that concurrent movement biases temporal estimates, but have primarily considered self-modulated movement only However, real-world encounters often include situations in which movement is restricted or perturbed by environmental factors In the following experiments, we introduced viscous movement environments to externally modulate movement and investigated the resulting effects on temporal perception In two separate tasks, participants timed auditory intervals while moving a robotic arm that randomly applied four levels of viscosity Results demonstrated that higher viscosity led to shorter perceived durations Using a drift-diffusion model and a Bayesian observer model, we confirmed these biasing effects arose from perceptual mechanisms, instead of biases in decision making These findings suggest that environmental perturbations are an important factor in movement-related temporal distortions, and enhance the current understanding of the interactions of motor activity and cognitive processes
14 citations
TL;DR: A review of the literature linking time perception and reward, including neurobiological and behavioral studies, can be found in this article, where the authors provide compelling support for the idea that the two domains interact via a common dopaminergic mechanism.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) in time coding was assessed in rats tasked with comparing the durations of two sequential vibrations, and it was shown that stimulus duration was encoded even though it was a perceptually irrelevant feature.
11 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors combine human and rat psychophysics with sensory cortical neuronal firing to construct a computational model for the percept of elapsed time embedded within sense of touch when subjects judged the duration of a vibration applied to the fingertip (human) or whiskers (rat).
Abstract: The connection between stimulus perception and time perception remains unknown The present study combines human and rat psychophysics with sensory cortical neuronal firing to construct a computational model for the percept of elapsed time embedded within sense of touch When subjects judged the duration of a vibration applied to the fingertip (human) or whiskers (rat), increasing stimulus intensity led to increasing perceived duration Symmetrically, increasing vibration duration led to increasing perceived intensity We modeled real spike trains recorded from vibrissal somatosensory cortex as input to dual leaky integrators-an intensity integrator with short time constant and a duration integrator with long time constant-generating neurometric functions that replicated the actual psychophysical functions of rats Returning to human psychophysics, we then confirmed specific predictions of the dual leaky integrator model This study offers a framework, based on sensory coding and subsequent accumulation of sensory drive, to account for how a feeling of the passage of time accompanies the tactile sensory experience
11 citations
TL;DR: The findings indicate that time and space are neurally separable dimensions, with the CNV both serving a supramodal role in temporal and spatial expectation, yet an exclusive role in preparing duration reproduction.
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, human participants performed a temporal or color discrimination task of visual stimuli, where they were informed which magnitude they would have to judge before or after presenting the two stimuli (S1 and S2).
Abstract: Studies investigating the neural mechanisms of time perception often measure brain activity while participants perform a temporal task. However, several of these studies are based exclusively on tasks in which time is relevant, making it hard to dissociate activity related to decisions about time from other task-related patterns. In the present study, human participants performed a temporal or color discrimination task of visual stimuli. In different blocks, participants were informed which magnitude they would have to judge before or after presenting the two stimuli (S1 and S2). Our behavioral results showed, as expected, that performance was better when participants knew beforehand which magnitude they would judge. Electrophysiological data (EEG) was analyzed using Linear Discriminant Contrasts (LDC) and a Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) approach to investigate whether and when information about time and color was encoded. During the presentation of S1, we did not find consistent differences in EEG activity as a function of the task. On the other hand, during S2, we found that temporal and color information was encoded in a task-relevant manner. Taken together, our results suggest that task goals strongly modulate decision-related information in EEG activity.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore to what degree, if any, time perception, the temporal binding window and the alpha peak frequency are related, and find that as the width of the binding window increases, the size of the filled duration illusion increases and the peak alpha frequency decreases.
9 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated, for the first time, that sensory magnitude affects time perception even under constant levels of arousal.
Abstract: Human time perception is malleable and subject to many biases. For example, it has repeatedly been shown that stimuli that are physically intense or that are unexpected seem to last longer. Two competing hypotheses have been proposed to account for such biases: One states that these temporal illusions are the result of increased levels of arousal that speeds up neural clock dynamics, whereas the alternative "magnitude coding" account states that the magnitude of sensory responses causally modulates perceived durations. Common experimental paradigms used to study temporal biases cannot dissociate between these accounts, as arousal and sensory magnitude covary and modulate each other. Here, we present two temporal discrimination experiments where two flashing stimuli demarcated the start and end of a to-be-timed interval. These stimuli could be either in the same or a different location, which led to different sensory responses because of neural repetition suppression. Crucially, changes and repetitions were fully predictable, which allowed us to explore effects of sensory response magnitude without changes in arousal or surprise. Intervals with changing markers were perceived as lasting longer than those with repeating markers. We measured EEG (Experiment 1) and pupil size (Experiment 2) and found that temporal perception was related to changes in ERPs (P2) and pupil constriction, both of which have been related to responses in the sensory cortex. Conversely, correlates of surprise and arousal (P3 amplitude and pupil dilation) were unaffected by stimulus repetitions and changes. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that sensory magnitude affects time perception even under constant levels of arousal.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a temporal bisection task was performed where participants were required to classify the duration of a stimulus as short or long, when gaze was directed at the observer, suggesting that effects of direct gaze are caused by attentional capture, not increased arousal.
TL;DR: In this article, patients with Parkinson's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) over-reproduced shorter durations and under-produced longer durations at extremes of the time range studied, with a shallower slope of linear correlation between the presented and produced time.
Abstract: Although animal studies and studies on Parkinson's disease (PD) suggest that dopamine deficiency slows the pace of the internal clock, which is corrected by dopaminergic medication, timing deficits in parkinsonism remain to be characterized with diverse findings. Here we studied patients with PD and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), 3-4 h after drug intake, and normal age-matched subjects. We contrasted perceptual (temporal bisection, duration comparison) and motor timing tasks (time production/reproduction) in supra- and sub-second time domains, and automatic versus cognitive/short-term memory-related tasks. Subjects were allowed to count during supra-second production and reproduction tasks. In the time production task, linearly correlating the produced time with the instructed time showed that the "subjective sense" of 1 s is slightly longer in PD and shorter in PSP than in normals. This was superposed on a prominent trend of underestimation of longer (supra-second) durations, common to all groups, suggesting that the pace of the internal clock changed from fast to slow as time went by. In the time reproduction task, PD and, more prominently, PSP patients over-reproduced shorter durations and under-reproduced longer durations at extremes of the time range studied, with intermediate durations reproduced veridically, with a shallower slope of linear correlation between the presented and produced time. In the duration comparison task, PD patients overestimated the second presented duration relative to the first with shorter but not longer standard durations. In the bisection task, PD and PSP patients estimated the bisection point (BP50) between the two supra-second but not sub-second standards to be longer than normal subjects. Thus, perceptual timing tasks showed changes in opposite directions to motor timing tasks: underestimating shorter durations and overestimating longer durations. In PD, correlation of the mini-mental state examination score with supra-second BP50 and the slope of linear correlation in the reproduction task suggested involvement of short-term memory in these tasks. Dopamine deficiency didn't correlate significantly with timing performances, suggesting that the slowed clock hypothesis cannot explain the entire results. Timing performance in PD may be determined by complex interactions among time scales on the motor and sensory sides, and by their distortion in memory.
TL;DR: Results suggest that aspects of temporal processing of visual stimuli may be modulated by inner motor representations of previously performed movements, and by physically carrying out an action compared with just watching it, and support the inner clock and change theories of time perception for the processing of human motion stimuli.
Abstract: While the effects of synthesised visual stimuli on time perception processes are well documented, very little research on time estimation in human movement stimuli exists. This study investigated the effects of movement speed and agency on duration estimation of human motion. Participants were recorded using optical motion capture while they performed dance-like movements at three different speeds. They later returned for a perceptual experiment in which they watched point-light displays of themselves and one other participant. Participants were asked to identify themselves, to estimate the duration of the recordings, and to rate expressivity and quality of the movements. Results indicate that speed of movement affected duration estimations such that faster speeds were rated longer, in accordance with previous findings in non-biological motion. The biasing effects of speed were stronger for watching others' movements than for watching one's own point-light movements. Duration estimations were longer after acting out the movement compared with watching it, and speed differentially affected ratings of expressivity and quality. Findings suggest that aspects of temporal processing of visual stimuli may be modulated by inner motor representations of previously performed movements, and by physically carrying out an action compared with just watching it. Results also support the inner clock and change theories of time perception for the processing of human motion stimuli, which can inform the temporal mechanisms of the hypothesised separate processor for human movement information.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the precise developmental course of young children's time perception from 3 to 5 years old and the effects of emotion localization on their time perception ability, and found that the time perception was influenced by stimulus duration and improved gradually with increasing age.
Abstract: Time perception is a fundamental aspect of young children's daily lives and is affected by a number of factors. The present study aimed to investigate the precise developmental course of young children's time perception from 3 to 5 years old and the effects of emotion localization on their time perception ability. A total of 120 children were tested using an adapted time perception task with black squares (Experiment 1) and emotional facial expressions (Experiment 2). Results suggested that children's time perception was influenced by stimulus duration and improved gradually with increasing age. Both accuracy and reaction time were affected by the presentation sequence of emotional faces, indicating an effect of emotion localization. To summarize, young children's time perception showed effects of age, stimulus duration, and emotion localization.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the impact of home isolation on sleep time perception, especially in comparable social isolation situations with similar pressures, and found that lockdown restrictions can affect sleep onset and wake-up time perception but not total sleep-time perception.
TL;DR: Results showed that the degree of the emotional component influences time perception in young adults and were discussed in terms of arousal-based and attention-based processes.
Abstract: Time perception can be distorted by emotional stimuli. The present study aims to investigate the effect of disgust on time perception in young adults. Here, we report two experiments in which a time bisection task was used with intervals lasting 400 ms (short standard) to 1600 ms (long standard). In Experiment 1, temporal intervals were marked by neutral images or images from food (rotten, joyful), and facial (disgust, happy) categories. In Experiment 2, disgust-eliciting and neutral stimuli belonging to seven different domains were used: faces, food, animals, body products, injury/infections, death and hygiene. Results showed temporal overestimations when, compared to neutral conditions, disgusted faces (Experiments 1 and 2) and disgusting death and hygiene stimuli (Experiment 2) were used, and a temporal underestimation when images of rotten food (Experiment 1) were used. Results are discussed in terms of arousal-based and attention-based processes and showed that the degree of the emotional component influences time perception.
TL;DR: The authors found that temporal processing may be disrupted in autistic children, although little is known about behaviours relating to time in daily life. In the present study, the authors presented a study that showed that autistic children are more likely to behave differently from their non-autistic counterparts.
Abstract: An emerging body of research suggests that temporal processing may be disrupted in autistic children, although little is known about behaviours relating to time in daily life. In the present study,...
TL;DR: The data demonstrate that flicker light stimulation is capable of inducing visual effects with an intensity rated to be similar in strength to effects induced by psychedelic substances and thereby support the investigation of potentially shared underlying neuronal mechanisms.
Abstract: Flicker light stimulation can induce short-term alterations in consciousness including hallucinatory color perception and geometric patterns. In the study at hand, the subjective experiences during 3 Hz and 10 Hz stroboscopic light stimulation of the closed eyes were assessed. In a within-subjects design (N = 24), we applied the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (mood state), time perception ratings, the Altered State of Consciousness Rating Scale, and the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory. Furthermore, we tested for effects of personality traits (NEO Five-Factor Inventory-2 and Tellegen Absorption Scale) on subjective experiences. Such systematic quantification improves replicability, facilitates comparisons between pharmacological and non-pharmacological techniques to induce altered states of consciousness, and is the prerequisite to study their underlying neuronal mechanisms. The resulting data showed that flicker light stimulation-induced states were characterized by vivid visual hallucinations of simple types, with effects strongest in the 10 Hz condition. Additionally, participants' personality trait of Absorption scores highly correlated with the experienced alterations in consciousness. Our data demonstrate that flicker light stimulation is capable of inducing visual effects with an intensity rated to be similar in strength to effects induced by psychedelic substances and thereby support the investigation of potentially shared underlying neuronal mechanisms.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the importance of magnitude information to create a representation of the external environment and successfully interact with it. But they also point out that duration and numerosity can shape our predictions and bias.
Abstract: Magnitude information is essential to create a representation of the external environment and successfully interact with it. Duration and numerosity, for example, can shape our predictions and bias...
14 Feb 2021
TL;DR: Our perception of the duration of a piece of music is related to its tempo, and absolute durations may seem longer as the tempo of an underlying pulse or beat increases as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Our perception of the duration of a piece of music is related to its tempo. When listening to music, absolute durations may seem longer as the tempo—the rate of an underlying pulse or beat—increase...
TL;DR: The hypothesis that changes in the context of an experience impact how an individual perceives (encodes) and remembers the length of that event is tested, providing new evidence for theories on how context changes, particularly those in spatial information, distort the experience of time differently during the encoding and retrieval phases of memory.
Abstract: Although it is understood that our experience of time is fluid and subjective, the cognitive mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are not well described. Based on event segmentation theory, we tes...
TL;DR: This paper found evidence that individual differences in internal clock speed account for some unexplained variance between choices across time-horizons, overall their findings suggest a nominal contribution of the altered sense of time in intertemporal choice.
Abstract: Delay-discounting studies in neuroscience, psychology, and economics have been mostly focused on concepts of self-control, reward evaluation, and discounting. Another important relationship to consider is the link between intertemporal choice and time perception. We presented 50 college students with timing tasks on the range of seconds to minutes and intertemporal-choice tasks on both the time-scale of seconds and of days. We hypothesized that individual differences in time perception would influence decisions about short experienced delays but not long delays. While we found some evidence that individual differences in internal clock speed account for some unexplained variance between choices across time-horizons, overall our findings suggest a nominal contribution of the altered sense of time in intertemporal choice.
TL;DR: In this paper, the functional significance of the contingent negative variation (CNV) component in time perception and whether the processing mechanisms of sub- and supra-second are similar or different still remain unclear.
Abstract: In the field of time psychology, the functional significance of the contingent negative variation (CNV) component in time perception and whether the processing mechanisms of sub- and supra-second are similar or different still remain unclear. In the present study, event-related potential (ERP) technology and classical temporal discrimination tasks were used to explore the neurodynamic patterns of sub- and supra-second time perception. In Experiment 1, the standard interval (SI) was fixed at 500 ms, and the comparison interval (CI) ranged from 200 ms to 800 ms. In Experiment 2, the SI was fixed at 2000 ms, and the CI ranged from 1400 ms to 2600 ms. Participants were required to judge whether the CI was longer or shorter than the SI. The ERP results showed similar CNV activity patterns in the two experiments. Specifically, CNV amplitude would be more negative when the CI was longer or closer to the memorized SI. CNV peak latency increased significantly until the CI reached the memorized SI. We propose that CNV amplitude might reflect the process of temporal comparison, and CNV peak latency might represent the process of temporal decision-making. To our knowledge, it is the first ERP task explicitly testing the two temporal scales, sub- and supra-second timing, in one study. Taken together, the present study reveals a similar functional significance of CNV between sub- and supra-second time perception.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors aimed to induce the recovery of time perception in Parkinson's disease patients and investigated the potential relationship between recovery and cognitive functions/domains other than time perception.
Abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) impairs various cognitive functions, including time perception. Dysfunctional time perception in PD is poorly understood, and no study has investigated the rehabilitation of time perception in patients with PD. We aimed to induce the recovery of time perception in PD patients and investigated the potential relationship between recovery and cognitive functions/domains other than time perception. Sixty patients with PD (27 females) and 20 healthy controls (10 females) were recruited. The participants underwent a feedback training protocol for 4 weeks to improve the accuracy of subjective spatial distance or time duration using a ruler or stopwatch, respectively. They participated in three tests at weekly intervals, each comprising 10 types of cognitive tasks and assessments. After duration feedback training for 1 month, performance on the Go/No-go task, Stroop task, and impulsivity assessment improved in patients with PD, while no effect was observed after distance feedback training. Additionally, the effect of training on duration production correlated with extended reaction time and improved accuracy in the Go/No-go and Stroop tasks. These findings suggest that time perception is functionally linked to inhibitory systems. If the feedback training protocol can modulate and maintain time perception, it may improve various cognitive/psychiatric functions in patients with PD. It may also be useful in the treatment of diseases other than PD that cause dysfunctions in temporal processing.
TL;DR: In this article, high-frequency transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (hf-tRNS) was applied on the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) during a duration judgment task.
TL;DR: The results revealed that mathematical competency influences mental number line and time knowledge, but with regard to time perception the effects were only observed in time production task.
Abstract: A growing body of research suggests that space, time and number are represented within a common system. Other studies have shown this relationship is related to the mathematical competency. Here we examined the influence of the mathematical capacities of 8–12 years old children, grouped into high (n = 63) and low (n = 58) on performance in mental number line, time knowledge and time perception. The results revealed that mathematical competency influences mental number line and time knowledge, but with regard to time perception the effects were only observed in time production task. In addition, the results of correlation analysis revealed interaction between time knowledge, time production (but not reproduction) and mental number line. Finally, the findings are discussed within the framework of the recent theories regarding representation of space, time and number.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a comprehensive exposition of subjective timing dysfunction in dementia, with a view to informing the management of such disturbances and explicate the functional implications of altered subjective timing by reference to two key and representative adaptive capacities: prospective memory and intertemporal decision-making.
Abstract: The capacity for subjective time in humans encompasses the perception of time’s unfolding from moment to moment, as well as the ability to traverse larger temporal expanses of past- and future-oriented thought via mental time travel. Disruption in time perception can result in maladaptive outcomes—from the innocuous lapse in timing that leads to a burnt piece of toast, to the grievous miscalculation that produces a traffic accident—while disruption to mental time travel can impact core functions from planning appointments to making long-term decisions. Mounting evidence suggests that disturbances to both time perception and mental time travel are prominent in dementia syndromes. Given that such disruptions can have severe consequences for independent functioning in everyday life, here we aim to provide a comprehensive exposition of subjective timing dysfunction in dementia, with a view to informing the management of such disturbances. We consider the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning changes to both time perception and mental time travel across different dementia disorders. Moreover, we explicate the functional implications of altered subjective timing by reference to two key and representative adaptive capacities: prospective memory and intertemporal decision-making. Overall, our review sheds light on the transdiagnostic implications of subjective timing disturbances in dementia and highlights the high variability in performance across clinical syndromes and functional domains.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors characterized the sense of time of a harbor seal in a temporal discrimination and a temporal bisection task and found that the seal learned to discriminate between a standard time interval (STI) and a longer comparison interval.
Abstract: Beyond the classic sensory systems, the sense of time is most likely involved from foraging to navigation. As a prerequisite for assessing the role time is playing in different behavioral contexts, we further characterized the sense of time of a harbor seal in this study. Supra-second time intervals were presented to the seal in a temporal discrimination and a temporal bisection task. During temporal discrimination, the seal needed to discriminate between a standard time interval (STI) and a longer comparison interval. In the bisection task, the seal learnt to discriminate two STIs. Subsequently, it indicated its subjective perception of test time intervals as resembling either the short or long STI more. The seal, although unexperienced regarding timing experiments, learnt both tasks fast. Depending on task, time interval or duration ratio, it achieved a high temporal sensitivity with Weber fractions ranging from 0.11 to 0.26. In the bisection task, the prerequisites for the Scalar Expectancy Theory including a constant Weber fraction, the bisection point lying close to the geometric mean of the STIs, and no significant influence of the STI pair condition on the probability of a long response were met for STIs with a ratio of 1:2, but not with a ratio of 1:4. In conclusion, the harbor seal's sense of time allows precise and complex judgments of time intervals. Cross-species comparisons suggest that principles commonly found to govern timing performance can also be discerned in harbor seals.
DOI•
12 Nov 2021TL;DR: In this article, the effects of training and perception in virtual reality have been studied and several studies have shown that some aspects of perception within VR can be affected by the training process.
Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) is a simulation tool that is being used extensively to study the effects of training and perception. However, several studies have shown that some aspects of perception within ...
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of emotional state on time perception in patients with depression were examined and it was suggested that changing the emotional state of the depressive patient by considering valence as well as arousal is important to improve the distortion of time perception.
Abstract: Purpose The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of emotional state on time perception in patients with depression and to investigate if time perception in patients with depression could be changed by induced emotional state. Patients and methods A clinically-depressed (CD, n=19) and non-depressed (ND, n=22) group viewed four video clips of different levels of valence and arousal (ie, positive-high arousal, positive-low arousal, negative-high arousal, negative-low arousal). After inducing emotion state, all participants performed a time perception task to measure differences in the perception of time. Results The results showed that the CD group perceived time passing more slowly than the ND group at baseline and in all conditions, especially in the negative-low arousal condition. The ND group perceived time passed more quickly in the positive-high arousal condition compared to the CD group. These results indicate that emotional state with combined valence and arousal factors could change time perception in patients with depression. Conclusion Based on these results, it is suggested that changing the emotional state of the depressive patient by considering valence as well as arousal is important to improve the distortion on time perception.