Cross-Modal Time Perception: Does it Emerge from Distributed Timing Mechanisms or Is It Controlled by a Central Timing Mechanism?

Abstract

In the context of time perception, our study aimed to determine whether cross-modal time perception emerged from a distributed or centralized timing mechanism? Cross-modal influences on temporal perception refer to the phenomenon where information presented in one sensory modality affects time perception in another sensory modality. We employed a novel paradigm in which information was encoded in one modality and judgments were made in another modality. The study consisted of two experiments. Experiment 1 focused on Intra-Modal time perception (controlled experiment) tasks with two conditions: Visual training and testing (V-V), and Auditory training and testing (A-A). Experiment 2 examined Cross-Modal time perception tasks with two conditions: Auditory training - Visual testing (A-V), and Visual training - Auditory testing (V-A). Detailed descriptions of both tasks can be found in the methodology section. For the Intra-Modal time perception task, our hypothesis was based on the modality effect in time perception. We expected to observe an overestimation of time in the auditory training and testing condition compared to the visual training and testing condition. In the cross-modal time perception task, if there is a central timing mechanism, there would be no difference in temporal processing when participants were trained in one modality and tested in another. We calculated the Point of Subjective Equality (PSE) for all four conditions. The results of Experiment 1 showed a significant mean difference between the PSE for the (V-V) condition and the (A-A) condition. In Experiment 2, we expected to find no mean difference between the PSE for the (A-V) and the PSE for the (VA) conditions. However, the results revealed a significant difference between both conditions. This suggests that participants were unable to transfer training from one modality to another.