Sub- and Supra-Second Timing in Auditory Perception: Evidence for Cross-Domain Relationships

Abstract

Previous studies indicate that there are at least two levels of temporal processing: the sub- and supra-second domains. The relationship between these domains remains unclear. The aim of this study was to test whether performance on the sub-second level is related to that on the supra-second one, or whether these two domains operate independently. Participants were 118 healthy adults (mean age = 23 years). The sub-second level was studied with a temporal-order judgment task and indexed by the Temporal Order Threshold (TOT), on which lower values corresponded to better performance. On the basis of TOT results, the initial sample was classified into two groups characterized by either higher temporal efficiency (HTE) or lower temporal efficiency (LTE). Next, the efficiency of performance on the supra-second level was studied in these two groups using the subjective accentuation task, in which participants listened to monotonous sequences of beats and were asked to mentally accentuate every n-th beat to create individual rhythmic patterns. The extent of temporal integration was assessed on the basis of the number of beats being united and better performance corresponded to longer units. The novel results are differences between groups in this temporal integration. The HTE group integrated beats in significantly longer units than did the LTE group. Moreover, for tasks with higher mental load, the HTE group relied more on a constant time strategy, whereas the LTE group relied more on mental counting, probably because of less efficient temporal integration. These findings provide insight into associations between sub- and supra-second levels of processing and point to a common time keeping system, which is active independently of temporal domain.

A common timing mechanism across different millisecond domains: evidence from perceptual and motor tasks

“…4 ). A similar classification procedure was also applied in our previous paper 2 and participants included in the current study constitute a subgroup of those in the previous paper. Detailed characteristics of the groups are provided in Table 1 .…”

“…The experimental studies were conducted in a soundproof room at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology. To measure timing ability, two procedures were applied: the tens of milliseconds timing procedure used the TOJ task developed and tested in our previous reports 2 , 17 ; the maximum tapping task was used for the hundreds of milliseconds timing procedure (see below for the schema of the study design, Fig. 1 ).…”

“…A considerable amount of literature has concentrated exclusively on TIP performance over particular time domains; however, the relationship between these domains, in particular with reference to the different timing systems, remains unclear. In our previous paper 2 , we provided evidence of associations between the tens of milliseconds domain (TOJ task) and the supra-second time domain (subjective accentuation task) using the auditory modality. The results suggested the existence of a common timing mechanism that is active independently of the tested time domains.…”

“…Extensive research studies indicate that temporal information processing (TIP) underpins many cognitive functions, such as memory, learning, attention, motor activities, planning, perception, and decision making, thereby playing a central role in our everyday activities [1][2][3][4][5] . Adjusting behaviours to a constantly changing environment requires the existence of a hypothetical internal clock responsible for processing temporal information extracted from different sensory modalities across various time domains 1,2,6 . The regulation of the speed of this hypothesised internal clock, whose effectiveness is based on the speed of the internal pacemaker, varies between individuals, leading to a faster clock for some and a slower clock for others.…”

Dissociable roles of theta and alpha in sub-second and supra-second time reproduction: An investigation of their links to depression and anxiety

“…We next examined whether frontal-midline theta and occipital alpha oscillations varied with depression and anxiety levels, and whether such changes were associated with reproduction performance. Previous research suggests that temporal cognition for sub- and supra-second time scales involve distinct neural circuits (Mauk & Bunomono, 2004) and are engaged in different sensory and cognitive functions (see Szelag, Stanczyk, & Szymaszek, 2022 for review). Therefore, we dichotomized our data as sub- and supra-second intervals and analyzed them accordingly.…”