Subjective time compression induced by continuous action

Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates that voluntary actions can modulate the subjective time experience of its outcomes to optimize dynamic interaction with the external environment. In the present study, using a temporal reproduction task where participants reproduced the duration of an auditory stimulus to which they were previously exposed by performing different types of voluntary action, we examined how the subjective time experience of action outcomes changed with voluntary action types. Two experiments revealed that the subjective time experience of action outcomes was compressed, compared with physical time, if the action was performed continuously (Experiment 1), possibly enhancing the experience of controlling the action outcome, or if the action was added an extra task-unrelated continuous action (Experiment 2), possibly reflecting different underlying mechanisms from subjective time compression induced by the task-related continuous action. The majority of prior studies have focused on the subjective time experience of action outcomes when actions were performed voluntarily or not, and no previous study has examined the effects of differences in voluntary action types on the subjective time experience of action outcomes. These findings may be useful in situations in which people wish to intentionally compress their own time experience of daily events through their voluntary actions.

3-2-1, action! A combined motor control-temporal reproduction task shows intentions, motions, and consequences alter time perception

“…Future studies, however, might perform a direct test by requesting participants to explicitly engage in motor timing (e.g. using a continuous measure [ 56 ]), or by contrasting the present results with perceptual timing within an action interval. However, whether due to action-induced perceptual bias, or a type of source confusion in timing, the present study underlines that the relation between perception and action is integral to subjective timing of events.…”

Enriched sensory feedback delivered during a voluntary action boosts subjective time compression

“…In a recent study, we investigated how the subjective time experience of action outcomes changes depending on the type of voluntary action. Specifically, we conducted a temporal reproduction task in which participants reproduced the duration of a previously exposed auditory stimulus using different types of voluntary actions ( Ueda and Shimoda, 2021 ). We compared the subjective time experience of a combination of single actions (in which the reproduction tone started and ended in response to key presses) with that of a continuous action (in which the reproduction tone was produced by continuously turning a steering wheel).…”

“…Building on this idea, the current study sought to investigate how the change in sensory feedback provided during a voluntary action affects the compression of subjective time and the sense of agency over the action outcome. We used a temporal reproduction task similar to our previous study ( Ueda and Shimoda, 2021 ) where participants continuously turned a steering wheel to reproduce the duration of an auditory stimulus (a tone) they were previously exposed to. In one condition, a harmony tone consisting of six different tones was constantly presented as the reproduction tone (the single auditory feedback condition).…”

Temporal perturbations cause movement-context independent but modality specific sensorimotor adaptation

“…Indeed, evidence for the influence of motor actions on duration estimates is accumulating. The frequency of finger tapping ( Anobile, Domenici, Togoli, Burr, & Arrighi, 2020 ; Tomassini, Vercillo, Torricelli, & Morrone, 2018 ; Yokosaka, Kuroki, Nishida, & Watanabe, 2015 ); the length ( Yon, Edey, Ivry, & Press, 2017 ) or type ( Ueda & Shimoda, 2021 ) of movements; or the mere preparation of a ballistic action ( Hagura, Kanai, Orgs, & Haggard, 2012 ) bias temporal estimates. In these studies, the motor action is task-irrelevant and experimental manipulations depend on the participant's ability to consciously alter specific movement parameters.…”