Spatial attention modulates time perception on the human torso

Abstract

Time perception is a fundamental aspect of human life, and is influenced and regulated by cognitive and sensory processes. For instance, spatial attention is found to modulate temporal judgments when resources are allocated to a specific stimulus location in vision and audition. However, it is unclear to what extent the attentional effects observed in vision and audition can be generalized to the tactile modality. Here, we study the effects of attentional cues on the time perception of tactile stimuli presented on the human torso. Across four experiments, we examined (1) the impact of visual versus tactile spatial cues, (2) the modulation of time perception by dynamic versus static tactile cues, (3) the role of spatial congruency between cue and target locations (front vs. back of the torso), and (4) the influence of cue-target intervals. Participants performed temporal bisection tasks, judging whether the vibrations following the cues were closer to short or long anchor durations. Tactile cues expanded the perceived duration of subsequent stimuli, with dynamic cues having a greater effect than static ones. While no congruency effects were observed for left and right torso locations, front-back congruency enhanced time expansion. The attentional effect peaked at a 100-ms cue-target interval. We conclude that the time-expanding effects of spatial attention extend to tactile stimuli on the human torso given that time expansion follows principles known from spatial attention.