Is subjective duration a signature of coding efficiency?
Perceived duration is conventionally assumed to correspond with objective duration, but a growing literature suggests a more complex picture. For example, repeated stimuli appear briefer in duration than a novel stimulus of equal physical duration. We suggest that such duration illusions appear to parallel the neural phenomenon of repetition suppression, and we marshal evidence for a new hypothesis: the experience of duration is a signature of the amount of energy expended in representing a stimulus, i.e. the coding efficiency. This novel hypothesis offers a unified explanation for almost a dozen illusions in the literature in which subjective duration is modulated by properties of the stimulus such as size, brightness, motion and rate of flicker.
Eagleman
David M
DM
Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. eagleman@bcm.edu
Pariyadath
Vani
V
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D011601:Psychophysics; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*