Event-related brain potentials of temporal generalization: The P300 span marks the transition between time perception...

There has been a long-standing debate on where on the time axis the transition between time perception and time estimation (i.e., the cognitive reconstruction of time) can be located. According to Fraisse (1984), time perception applies to intervals < 300 ms, whereas intervals > 1 s are subject to time estimation. While there is good empirical evidence for this notion, it might be possible to further pinpoint the threshold. In two experiments, an auditory temporal generalization (TG) task in the range of 400 ms was used to compare event-related potentials (ERPs) with findings from an analogous task using standard durations in the range of 200 ms. As an ERP correlate of actively processed durations around 400 ms, offset latency of a medial central/centroparietal contingent negative variation (CNV) was identified. Thus, durations of around 400 ms may be coded as the duration of mental processes and, hence, are cognitively reconstructed (time estimation). This contrasts with again replicated ERP correlates of TG in the 200-ms range, which involve amplitude modulations of stationary P300/P500 components and suggest an immediate evaluation of durations around 200 ms. It is concluded that the P300 span may denote the transition between time perception and time estimation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).