Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026
07:43
A Naturalistic Setup for Presenting Real People and Live Actions in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Studies
Published on: August 4, 2023
Rewarding performance feedback alters reported time of action
1Center for Mind and Brain, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95618, USA. eaisham@ucdavis.edu
Consciousness and Cognition
|August 31, 2011
Summary
Monetary rewards, even when false, can alter the perceived timing of actions. This study found that reward salience is crucial for feedback to influence our sense of time.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Decision Making
Background:
- Post-action events are known to influence the retrospective perception of action timing.
- The role of reward in modulating this temporal perception remains less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether rewarding performance feedback alters the reported time of an action.
- To determine the specific contribution of reward salience in temporal perception.
Main Methods:
- Participants completed a speeded button press task with varying feedback conditions.
- Monetary rewards or punishments were administered based on performance.
- Independent manipulation of speeded response requirements and reward to isolate feedback components.
Main Results:
- Rewarded trials led to a false perception of earlier action occurrence compared to punished trials.
- Neither the need for a speeded response nor reward, when tested independently, affected the judged time of action.
- The effect was contingent on reward making the feedback salient.
Conclusions:
- Meaningful performance feedback modulates the judged time of an action only when it is made salient by reward.
- Reward plays a critical role in integrating feedback into temporal perception.
