The Feeling of Time Passing Is Associated with Recurrent Sustained Activity and Theta Rhythms Across the Cortex

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Psychophysics

Background:

• Accurate time estimation is crucial for daily functioning.
• The neural basis of subjective time perception remains poorly understood.
• Previous research lacks detailed analysis of brain activity during temporal tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate brain mechanisms underlying subjective time estimation.
• To evaluate temporal bisection performance using electroencephalography (EEG).
• To identify neural correlates of time perception in humans.

Main Methods:

• A temporal bisection task with visual stimuli of 400ms and 1600ms durations.
• Recording of electroencephalography (EEG) data from 128 electrodes.
• Novel analysis of sustained cortical activity and theta oscillations (4-8 Hz).

Main Results:

• Participants overestimated intermediate durations, perceiving time as passing faster.
• Subjective bisection points deviated from the arithmetic mean towards the geometric mean.
• Sustained cortical activity, particularly in the theta range, was linked to temporal judgments.
• Recurrence rate of theta activity strongly correlated with the bisection point (r = -0.90).

Conclusions:

• Sustained cortical activity within the theta frequency range may underpin temporal duration representation.
• The recurrence of this theta activity is associated with the subjective experience of time flow.
• This pilot study provides novel insights into the neural dynamics of time perception.