Time perception

About: Time perception is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1918 publications have been published within this topic receiving 87020 citations.

From Body Form to Biological Motion The Apparent Velocity of Human Movement Biases Subjective Time

Abstract: In two experiments, we investigated time perception during apparent biological motion. Pictures of initial, intermediate, and final positions of a single movement were presented, with interstimulus intervals that were constant within trials but varied across trials. Movement paths were manipulated by changing the sequential order of body postures. Increasing the path length produced an increase in perceived movement velocity. To produce an implicit measure of apparent movement dynamics, we also asked participants to judge the duration of a frame surrounding the stimuli. Longer paths with higher apparent movement velocity produced shorter perceived durations. This temporal bias was attenuated for nonbody (Experiment 1) and inverted-body (Experiment 2) control stimuli. As an explanation for these findings, we propose an automatic top-down mechanism of biological-motion perception that binds successive body postures into a continuous perception of movement. We show that this mechanism is associated with velocity-dependent temporal compression. Furthermore, this mechanism operates on-line, bridging the intervals between static stimuli, and is specific to configural processing of body form.

Oscillatory Phase Dynamics in Neural Entrainment Underpin Illusory Percepts of Time

Abstract: Neural oscillatory dynamics are a candidate mechanism to steer perception of time and temporal rate change. While oscillator models of time perception are strongly supported by behavioral evidence, a direct link to neural oscillations and oscillatory entrainment has not yet been provided. In addition, it has thus far remained unaddressed how context-induced illusory percepts of time are coded for in oscillator models of time perception. To investigate these questions, we used magnetoencephalography and examined the neural oscillatory dynamics that underpin pitch-induced illusory percepts of temporal rate change. Human participants listened to frequency-modulated sounds that varied over time in both modulation rate and pitch, and judged the direction of rate change (decrease vs increase). Our results demonstrate distinct neural mechanisms of rate perception: Modulation rate changes directly affected listeners' rate percept as well as the exact frequency of the neural oscillation. However, pitch-induced illusory rate changes were unrelated to the exact frequency of the neural responses. The rate change illusion was instead linked to changes in neural phase patterns, which allowed for single-trial decoding of percepts. That is, illusory underestimations or overestimations of perceived rate change were tightly coupled to increased intertrial phase coherence and changes in cerebro-acoustic phase lag. The results provide insight on how illusory percepts of time are coded for by neural oscillatory dynamics.

The heart beat does not make us tick: the impacts of heart rate and arousal on time perception.

Abstract: According to popular models of human time perception, variations in prospective timing are caused by two factors: the pulse rate of an internal pacemaker and the amount of attention directed to the passage of time. The results concerning the effect of attention on subjective timing have been conclusive, but the mechanisms that drive the pacemaker are still far from being understood. In two experiments, we examined the impact of two factors that in the existing literature on human time perception have been argued to affect such a pacemaker: arousal and heart rate. Experienced arousal and heart rate were varied independently by means of specific physical exercises: (a) A muscle exercise increased arousal and heart rate; (b) a breath-holding exercise increased arousal but decreased heart rate; and (c) in the control condition, arousal and heart rate were held constant. The results indicate that increased subjective arousal leads to higher time estimates, whereas heart rate itself has no relevant impact on time perception. The results are discussed with respect to the underlying mechanisms of prospective time perception.