Time to imagine moving: Simulated motor activity affects time perception.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Sensorimotor Integration

Background:

• Time perception is crucial for daily tasks but is susceptible to cognitive and emotional influences.
• Traditional views place time perception within central cognition, but sensorimotor factors also play a role.
• Perception-action integration theories emphasize the centrality of motor processes in experiencing time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interactive effects of sensory information and motor activity on time perception.
• To determine if imagined movements influence the subjective experience of time's passage.

Main Methods:

• Two prospective timing tasks were employed using visual stimuli with varying optical flow velocities.
• Participants performed direct-estimation tasks (judging duration in seconds) and motor-timing tasks (maintaining a constant tapping pace).
• Participants were instructed to imagine self-motion (accelerating or decelerating) independently of the visual stimuli.

Main Results:

• Imagining accelerating movement led to overestimation of time (time dilation) in the direct-estimation task.
• Imagining decelerating movement resulted in underestimation of time (time compression) in the direct-estimation task.
• Imagined acceleration also increased tapping speed in the motor-timing task, replicating the time dilation effect.

Conclusions:

• Simulated motor activity, through imagined movement, causally affects time perception.
• Temporal unfolding of sensorimotor contingencies integrates imagined movements and sensory input.
• Perception of time is relative to imagined motion, akin to physical time's relativity to spatial motion.