The Link between Visual Attention and the Subjective Perception of Time

Abstract

The link between the subjective perception of time and the functioning of the top-down and bottom-up visual attention subsystems was studied on performance of visual tasks using the Go/No Go and Go/No Go Change paradigms (with changes in the relevant stimulus) by sportsmen with different skill levels. Eye movements were recorded during task performance by videooculography and the duration of fixations and the amplitudes of saccades were determined. After task performance, sportsmen subjectively evaluated the duration of the time that had passed. Assessments of time intervals were compared with the extents of the ambient and focal modes of vision, which are driven by the bottom-up and top-down visual attention subsystems, respectively. A relationship was found between the involvement of top-down and bottom-up attention and subjective assessments of time intervals. When time intervals were overestimated, top-down-attention was more involved (with dominance of the focal mode of vision) as compared with the situation of underestimation of time intervals, when top-down attention was less involved.