Abstract
A reliable perception of the time a moving object takes to travel between two points in space is important to organise our behaviour in dynamic environments. It is intuitive to suggest that the temporal estimates regarding the same visual input engage similar mechanisms. This study sought to determine whether our perceptual judgements of the passage of time of a moving object and the estimation of time-to-arrival of this same object in an anticipatory action use the same metrics. To achieve this we employed a motion adaptation protocol known to cause localised distortions of the conscious perceptual experience of time. Consistent with previous reports, the results indicated that we succeeded in inducing a reduction of the perceived duration in the locations adapted to a fast moving stimulus but not to a slow moving stimulus. Moreover, we find symmetrical effects of motion adaptation on the timing of anticipatory interceptive actions, which are paralleled by changes in perceived speed. These results suggest that the temporal metrics for time perception and anticipatory actions depend on different mechanisms or processes.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2012