Perception Of Temporal Order Research Articles

Influencing factors and thought of temporal order perception

Influencing factors and thought of temporal order perception

Biased temporal order judgments in chronic neglect influenced by trunk position

Numerous studies have reported that temporal order perception is biased in neurological patients with extinction and neglect. These individuals tend to perceive two objectively simultaneous stimuli as occurring asynchronously, with the ipsilesional item being perceived as appearing prior to the contralesional item. Likewise, they report that two stimuli occurred simultaneously in situations where the contralesional item is presented substantially prior to the ipsilesional item. Therefore, they exhibit a biased point of subjective simultaneity (PSS). Here we demonstrate that the magnitude of this effect is modulated by the relative position of the stimuli with respect to the patient's trunk. This effect was only observed in patients who still exhibited neglect symptoms, and neither the pathological bias nor substantial modulation were observed in individuals who had recovered from neglect, those who never had neglect or neurologically healthy controls. Crucially, our design kept the retinal and head-centered coordinates of these stimuli constant, providing a pure measure for the influence of egocentric trunk position. This finding emphasizes the interaction of egocentric spatial position on the temporal symptoms observed in these individuals.

The disconnecting syndromes and temporal order judgment

Background: The perception of tactile temporal order depends not only on the stimulation interval but also on body postures in space. When two stimuli are delivered in succession one to each hand, judgments are often inverted with the arms crossed.

Prestimulus Alpha Oscillations and the Temporal Sequencing of Audiovisual Events.

Perceiving the temporal order of sensory events typically depends on participants' attentional state, thus likely on the endogenous fluctuations of brain activity. Using magnetoencephalography, we sought to determine whether spontaneous brain oscillations could disambiguate the perceived order of auditory and visual events presented in close temporal proximity, that is, at the individual's perceptual order threshold (Point of Subjective Simultaneity [PSS]). Two neural responses were found to index an individual's temporal order perception when contrasting brain activity as a function of perceived order (i.e., perceiving the sound first vs. perceiving the visual event first) given the same physical audiovisual sequence. First, average differences in prestimulus auditory alpha power indicated perceiving the correct ordering of audiovisual events irrespective of which sensory modality came first: a relatively low alpha power indicated perceiving auditory or visual first as a function of the actual sequence order. Additionally, the relative changes in the amplitude of the auditory (but not visual) evoked responses were correlated with participant's correct performance. Crucially, the sign of the magnitude difference in prestimulus alpha power and evoked responses between perceived audiovisual orders correlated with an individual's PSS. Taken together, our results suggest that spontaneous oscillatory activity cannot disambiguate subjective temporal order without prior knowledge of the individual's bias toward perceiving one or the other sensory modality first. Altogether, our results suggest that, under high perceptual uncertainty, the magnitude of prestimulus alpha (de)synchronization indicates the amount of compensation needed to overcome an individual's prior in the serial ordering and temporal sequencing of information.

Time Order as Psychological Bias

Incorrectly perceiving the chronology of events can fundamentally alter people’s understanding of the causal structure of the world. For example, when astronomers used the “eye and ear” method to locate stars, they showed systematic interindividual errors. In the current study, we showed that temporal-order perception may be considered a psychological bias that attention can modulate but not fully eradicate. According to Titchener’s law of prior entry, attention prioritizes the perception of an event and thus can help compensate for possible interindividual differences in the perceived timing of an event by normalizing perception in time. In a longitudinal study, we tested the stability of participants’ temporal-order perception across and within sensory modalities, together with the magnitude of the participants’ prior-entry effect. All measurements showed the persistence of stable interindividual variability. Crucially, the magnitude of the prior-entry effect was insufficient to compensate for interindividual variability: Conscious time order was systematically subjective, and therefore traceable on an individual basis.

Brain Mechanisms for Measuring Time: Population Coding of Durations

Temporal processing is crucial in many aspects of our perception and action. While there is mounting evidence for the encoding mechanisms of spatial ("where") and identity ("what") information, those of temporal information ("when") remain largely unknown. Recent studies suggested that, similarly to the basic visual stimulus features such as orientation, motion direction, and numerical quantity, event durations are also represented by a population of neurons that are tuned for specific, preferred durations. This paper first reviews recent psychophysical studies on duration aftereffect. Changes in the three parameters (response gain, shift, and width of tuning curves) are then discussed that may need to be taken into account in the putative duration-channel model. Next, the potential neural basis of the duration channels is examined by overviewing recent neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies on time perception. Finally, this paper proposes a general neural basis of timing that commonly represents time-differences independent of stimulus types (e.g., a single duration v.s. multiple brief events). This extends the idea of the "when pathway" from the perception of temporal order to the general timing mechanisms for the perception of duration, temporal frequency, and synchrony.

Peripheral Visual Cues: Their Fate in Processing and Effects on Attention and Temporal-Order Perception.

Peripheral visual cues lead to large shifts in psychometric distributions of temporal-order judgments. In one view, such shifts are attributed to attention speeding up processing of the cued stimulus, so-called prior entry. However, sometimes these shifts are so large that it is unlikely that they are caused by attention alone. Here we tested the prevalent alternative explanation that the cue is sometimes confused with the target on a perceptual level, bolstering the shift of the psychometric function. We applied a novel model of cued temporal-order judgments, derived from Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention. We found that cue–target confusions indeed contribute to shifting psychometric functions. However, cue-induced changes in the processing rates of the target stimuli play an important role, too. At smaller cueing intervals, the cue increased the processing speed of the target. At larger intervals, inhibition of return was predominant. Earlier studies of cued TOJs were insensitive to these effects because in psychometric distributions they are concealed by the conjoint effects of cue–target confusions and processing rate changes.

Perception of temporal order during the attentional blink: Using stimulus salience to modulate prior entry.

When multiple targets are presented in rapid sequence, observers frequently confuse the order in which they were presented. The probability of order reversals is known to vary throughout the period of the attentional blink (AB), which refers to impairment in the perception of the second of two targets when it is presented within approximately 500ms from the first. Our objective was to examine the principle of prior entry (in which perception of temporal order is said to be affected by the relative latency at which each target is processed) as a determinant of the perception of temporal order throughout the AB. In two experiments, three letter targets (T1, T2, T3) were inserted in a stream of digit distractors, with T3 always presented directly after T2. The T1-T2 lag was varied to assess the perception of T2-T3 temporal order throughout the period of the AB. Processing latency was manipulated by means of salience. In Experiment 1, salience of T2 and T3 was manipulated exogenously by coloring the salient target red with all other stimuli being green. In Experiment 2, salience was modulated endogenously by manipulating which of the two targets matched the contents of working memory. Consistent with the principle of prior entry, perception of temporal order in both experiments was enhanced throughout the period of the AB when T2 was salient, and impaired when T3 was salient. Simulations based on the Episodic Simultaneous Type, Serial Token (eSTST) model that incorporates prior-entry, matched the empirical results.

Awareness of Temporal Lag is Necessary for Motor-Visual Temporal Recalibration.

Consistent exposure to a temporal lag between observers' voluntary action and its visual feedback induced recalibration of temporal order perception between a motor action and a visual stimulus. It remains unclear what kinds of processing underlie this motor–visual temporal recalibration. This study examined the necessity of awareness of a temporal lag between a motor action and its visual feedback for motor–visual temporal recalibration. In Experiment 1, we allocated observers to either the multiple-step or single-step lag conditions. In the multiple-step lag condition, we first inserted a small temporal lag and subsequently increased it with progress of the adaptation period, to make observers unaware of the temporal lag during the adaptation period. In the single-step lag condition, we instructed observers about the temporal lag before adaptation, and inserted a substantial temporal lag from the beginning of the adaptation period to ensure that they were aware of the temporal lag. We found significant recalibration only in the single-step lag condition. In Experiment 2, we exposed all observers to a substantial temporal lag from the beginning of adaptation period with no instruction about insertion of the temporal lag. We asked observers at the end of the experiment whether they were aware of the temporal lag. We found significant recalibration for only observers who were aware of the lag. These results suggest that awareness of the temporal lag plays a crucial role in motor–visual temporal recalibration.

Aging and Parkinson's disease as functional models of temporal order perception

Objective: Our study evaluates how aging and Parkinson's disease (PD) alter temporal order judgment (TOJ).Method: Two TOJ experiments were performed with young participants, healthy elderly participants, and PD patients. Two white squares were presented on opposite sides of a screen and participants responded which appeared first. In Experiment 1, it was assessed how accurately each group could judge temporal order at intervals from 0ms to 167ms. Detectability, the capacity of detecting which stimulus appeared first, was measured. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to orient their attention to the hemifield indicated by a cue. The PSS (“point of subjective simultaneity”), where the participant was equally likely to respond that either stimulus appeared first, was measured.Results: In Experiment 1, PD patients had smaller detectability than healthy elderly (p<0.05) and young participants (p<0.001), and healthy elderly participants had smaller detectability than young participants (p<0.001). In Experiment 2, PSS was 29ms for young participants, 121ms for healthy elderly participants, and 283ms for PD patients; differences were statistically significant for comparisons between PD patients and healthy elderly participants (p<0.001), PD patients and young participants (p<0.001), and healthy elderly and young participants (p<0.04).Conclusions: TOJ is impaired by aging and PD. Our results suggest that dopamine loss increases latency and variability in visual decision making due to a lower signal-to-noise ratio in the visual pathways.

Relações entre Adaptabilidade de carreira e personalidade: Um estudo com universitários ingressantes brasileiros

Identificar os fatores que influenciam a experiência universitária dos estudantes é importante para a pesquisa no desenvolvimento de carreira e permite uma maior compreensão da adaptação acadêmica dos alunos. Este estudo investigou as relações entre traços de personalidade e adaptabilidade de carreira em universitários ingressantes brasileiros. 359 alunos participaram (59,3% mulheres), com idade média de 20,6 anos, que responderam a perguntas biodemográficas, uma escala de adaptabilidade de carreira e uma lista de marcadores de personalidade. Foram encontradas correlações significativas entre adaptabilidade e todas as dimensões da personalidade. Não houve diferenças significativas entre os sexos na adaptabilidade e os estudantes de Humanidades tiveram escores significativamente mais baixos em preocupação de carreira do que alunos de outras áreas. Os resultados favorecem a discussão sobre o impacto das características de entrada dos estudantes para a adaptação e o engajamento acadêmico.

Converging evidence that common timing processes underlie temporal-order and simultaneity judgments: a model-based analysis.

Perception of simultaneity and temporal order is studied with simultaneity judgment (SJ) and temporal-order judgment (TOJ) tasks. In the former, observers report whether presentation of two stimuli was subjectively simultaneous; in the latter, they report which stimulus was subjectively presented first. SJ and TOJ tasks typically give discrepant results, which has prompted the view that performance is mediated by different processes in each task. We looked at these discrepancies from a model that yields psychometric functions whose parameters characterize the timing, decisional, and response processes involved in SJ and TOJ tasks. We analyzed 12 data sets from published studies in which both tasks had been used in within-subjects designs, all of which had reported differences in performance across tasks. Fitting the model jointly to data from both tasks, we tested the hypothesis that common timing processes sustain simultaneity and temporal-order judgments, with differences in performance arising from task-dependent decisional and response processes. The results supported this hypothesis, also showing that model psychometric functions account for aspects of SJ and TOJ data that classical analyses overlook. Implications for research on perception of simultaneity and temporal order are discussed.

Auditory perception of temporal order: A comparison between tonal language speakers with and without non-tonal language experience.

It has been shown recently that temporal order perception is modulated by language environments. The present study focused on the specific question whether a secondary language experience influences temporal order perception by comparing the temporal order thresholds (TOTs) between Chinese subjects with and without a secondary non-tonal language (i.e., English) experience. Besides monaurally presented paired clicks, binaurally presented two different types of tone pairs were used in order to better capture a potential difference between tonal and non-tonal languages. The results showed a non-significant language effect on monaurally presented click TOTs, but a significant language effect for binaurally presented tone TOTs. Compared to click performance, Chinese subjects without English proficiency demonstrated a significantly lower TOT only for close frequency tone pairs, while Chinese subjects with English proficiency demonstrated lower TOTs for both close frequency and distant frequency tone pairs. These results confirm on the one hand a common and language independent temporal mechanism for perceiving the order of two monaurally presented stimuli, and indicate on the other hand specific mechanisms of neuronal plasticity for perceiving the order of frequency-related auditory stimuli for tonal language speakers with or without a secondary non-tonal language experience.

Sensation of agency and perception of temporal order

After adaptation to a fixed temporal delay between actions and their sensory consequences, stimuli delivered during the delay are perceived to occur prior to actions. Temporal judgments are also influenced by the sensation of agency (experience of causing our own actions and their sensory consequences). Sensory consequences of voluntary actions are perceived to occur earlier in time than those of involuntary actions. However, it is unclear whether temporal order illusions influence the sensation of agency. Thus, we tested how the illusionary reversal of motor actions and sound events affect the sensation of agency. We observed an absence of the sensation of agency in the auditory modality in a condition in which sounds were falsely perceived as preceding motor acts relative to the perceived temporal order in the control condition. This finding suggests a strong association between the sensation of agency and the temporal order perception of actions and their consequences.

Training in rapid auditory processing ameliorates auditory comprehension in aphasic patients: A randomized controlled pilot study

Experimental studies have often reported close associations between rapid auditory processing and language competency. The present study was aimed at improving auditory comprehension in aphasic patients following specific training in the perception of temporal order (TO) of events.We tested 18 aphasic patients showing both comprehension and TO perception deficits. Auditory comprehension was assessed by the Token Test, phonemic awareness and Voice-Onset-Time Test. The TO perception was assessed using auditory Temporal-Order-Threshold, defined as the shortest interval between two consecutive stimuli, necessary to report correctly their before–after relation. Aphasic patients participated in eight 45–minute sessions of either specific temporal training (TT, n=11) aimed to improve sequencing abilities, or control non-temporal training (NT, n=7) focussed on volume discrimination.The TT yielded improved TO perception; moreover, a transfer of improvement was observed from the time domain to the language domain, which was untrained during the training. The NT did not improve either the TO perception or comprehension in any language test.These results are in agreement with previous literature studies which proved ameliorated language competency following the TT in language-learning-impaired or dyslexic children. Our results indicated for the first time such benefits also in aphasic patients.

Perception of temporal order: Central and distributed timing

Temporal order perception refers to the sense of synchrony, successiveness and order surrounding two events that occur concurrently or successively. This type of perception is essential for many fundamental activities, such as speech comprehension, music appreciation, and motor coordination. We reviewed studies published in the past 10 years that focused on behavior, brain damage, brain imaging and electroencephalography with respect to temporal order perception on the scale of several hundred milliseconds. Among the studies we reviewed, temporal order perception was influenced by the modality, attributes, and features of the stimuli, as well as the characteristics of the tasks used. The temporoparietal junction, intraparietal sulcus, premotor and supplementary motor areas, and prefrontal lobe were frequently reported to be activated during unimodal temporal order perception, while the inferior parietal lobe, intraparietal sulcus, insula, and superior colliculus were mostly reported to be activated during crossmodal temporal order perception. In summary, temporal order perception appears to be characterized by both central and distributed timing. The incongruence in terms of regions activated between unimodal and crossmodal temporal order perception may be related to the neural representation of temporal order. Future research could combine numerous techniques, explore the relationship between timing mechanisms and temporal order processes, and examine the specific function of each relevant brain area to clarify the mechanisms underlying temporal order perception.

Temporal-Order Judgment of Audiovisual Events Involves Network Activity Between Parietal and Prefrontal Cortices

Our perception of the temporal order of everyday external events depends on the integrated sensory information in the brain. Our understanding of the brain mechanism for temporal-order judgment (TOJ) of unisensory events, particularly in the visual domain, is advanced. In case of multisensory events, however, there are unanswered questions. Here, by using physically synchronous and asynchronous auditory-visual events in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments, we identified the brain network that is associated with the perception of the temporal order of multisensory events. The activation in the right temporo-parietal junction was modulated by the perception of asynchronous audiovisual events. During this perception of temporal order, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex coordinated activity with the right temporo-parietal and the left inferior parietal cortices. These results suggest that the TOJ in the multisensory domain underlies a network activity between parietal and prefrontal cortices unlike the regional activity in the right temporo-parietal junction in the unisensory visual domain.

Temporal order perception of auditory stimuli is selectively modified by tonal and non-tonal language environments

The close relationship between temporal perception and speech processing is well established. The present study focused on the specific question whether the speech environment could influence temporal order perception in subjects whose language backgrounds are distinctively different, i.e., Chinese (tonal language) vs. Polish (non-tonal language). Temporal order thresholds were measured for both monaurally presented clicks and binaurally presented tone pairs. Whereas the click experiment showed similar order thresholds for the two language groups, the experiment with tone pairs resulted in different observations: while Chinese demonstrated better performance in discriminating the temporal order of two “close frequency” tone pairs (600Hz and 1200Hz), Polish subjects showed a reversed pattern, i.e., better performance for “distant frequency” tone pairs (400Hz and 3000Hz). These results indicate on the one hand a common temporal mechanism for perceiving the order of two monaurally presented stimuli, and on the other hand neuronal plasticity for perceiving the order of frequency-related auditory stimuli. We conclude that the auditory brain is modified with respect to temporal processing by long-term exposure to a tonal or a non-tonal language. As a consequence of such an exposure different cognitive modes of operation (analytic vs. holistic) are selected: the analytic mode is adopted for “distant frequency” tone pairs in Chinese and for “close frequency” tone pairs in Polish subjects, whereas the holistic mode is selected for “close frequency” tone pairs in Chinese and for “distant frequency” tone pairs in Polish subjects, reflecting a double dissociation of function.

Asymmetries in visuomotor recalibration of time perception: Does causal binding distort the window of integration?

The recalibration of perceived visuomotor simultaneity to vision-lead and movement-lead temporal discrepancies is marked by an underlying causal asymmetry, if the movement (button press) is voluntary and self-initiated; a visual stimulus lagging the button press may be interpreted as causally linked sensory feedback (intentional or causal binding), a leading visual stimulus not. Here, we test whether this underlying causal asymmetry leads to directional asymmetries in the temporal recalibration of visuomotor time perception, using an interval estimation paradigm. Participants were trained to the presence of one of three temporal discrepancies between a motor action (button press) and a visual stimulus (flashed disk): 100ms vision-lead, simultaneity, and 100ms movement-lead. By adjusting a point on a visual scale, participants then estimated the interval between the visual stimulus and the button press over a range of discrepancies. Comparing the results across conditions, we found that temporal recalibration appears to be implemented nearly exclusively on the movement-lead side of the range of discrepancies by a uni-lateral lengthening or shortening of the window of temporal integration. Interestingly, this marked asymmetry does not lead to a significantly asymmetrical recalibration of the point of subjective simultaneity or to significant differences in discriminability. This seeming contradiction (symmetrical recalibration of subjective simultaneity and asymmetrical recalibration of interval estimation) poses a challenge to common models of temporal order perception that assume an underlying time measurement process with Gaussian noise. Using a two-criterion model of the window of temporal integration, we illustrate that a compressive bias around perceived simultaneity (temporal integration) even prior to perceptual decisions about temporal order would be very hard to detect given the sensitivity of the psychophysical procedures commonly used.

Does the “Why” Tell Us the “When”?

Traditional approaches to human causal reasoning assume that the perception of temporal order informs judgments of causal structure. In this article, we present two experiments in which people followed the opposite inferential route: Perceptual judgments of temporal order were instead influenced by causal beliefs. By letting participants freely interact with a software-based “physics world,” we induced stable causal beliefs that subsequently determined participants’ reported temporal order of events, even when this led to a reversal of the objective temporal order. We argue that for short timescales, even when temporal-resolution capabilities suffice, the perception of temporal order is distorted to fit existing causal beliefs.