Abstract
Prior research has shown that our perception of time is compressed when we volitionally perform actions, a phenomenon referred to as temporal binding. In three studies, we investigated the degree to which contextual cues that signaled other agents and related to actions would influence binding, given that those cues may affect individual’s feelings of independent action performance. Participants heard action verbalizations that did or did not match actions that participants had already begun performing. Participants’ time estimates of the intervals between action initiations and action effects were higher on trials in which they heard verbalizations that matched their ongoing actions, and lower on trials in which the verbalizations and actions did not match. Such effects did not occur when participants passively observed actions and effects being caused by the computer. These results show that the compatibility of action cues with ongoing actions influences temporal binding effects, suggesting that they influence our feelings of having been an independent agent.
Highlights
Our perception of time is a highly subjective experience
The present research adds to line of research on the subjective nature of our perception of time
It shows that our perception of time is influenced by our own actions and by the compatibility of those actions with contextual cues
Summary
Our perception of time is a highly subjective experience. a long tradition in research has shown that the perception of time can be influenced by many different psychological factors (Benford, 1944; Hirsh and Sherrick, 1961; Libet, 1985; Angrilli et al, 1997). Haggard et al (2002) showed that when we act voluntarily, actions are perceived to occur later in time and action effects are perceived to occur earlier in time, making the time intervals between actions and action effects appear shorter for voluntary compared to involuntary actions This phenomenon is referred to as intentional binding, or temporal binding, and has been repeatedly demonstrated in previous research (e.g., Engbert et al, 2007; Wenke and Haggard, 2009; Moore et al, 2009a,b; Ebert and Wegner, 2010; Obhi and Hall, 2011; Kühn et al, 2013). We typically perceive actions and outcomes to occur closer together in time when we consider ourselves responsible (e.g., Desantis et al, 2011)
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