title: Time in perspective.
abstract: Perceptions of time and space are subject to strong contextual effects. Like their physical counterparts, they appear to be bound together. The perceived spatial extent of a constant retinal extent increases with its perceived distance from the observer. The perceived duration of a moving object increases with its covered angular trajectory. It follows that the perceived duration of moving objects covering identical angular trajectories should also increase with distance. Using three-dimensionally rendered balls rolling for 600 ms, 900 ms, and 1,200 ms and covering 5.5°, 11°, and 22° trajectories in fronto-parallel planes of a linear-perspective scene, we showed that perceived duration dilates by up to 50% as the fronto-parallel plane of the rolling ball recedes from the observer. Such time dilation is mostly contributed to by the smaller size of the distant ball. As in a three-dimensional world, objects' sizes and their covered trajectories per time unit decrease with distance, and as the two factors lead to opposite perceived-duration effects, the results suggest a form of time constancy in a three-dimensional world.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, France. andrei.gorea@parisdescartes.fr
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gorea
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004215:Distance Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Kappa effect; Ponzo illusion; cognition; linear perspective; perceived duration; speed/time constancy; time estimation; time perception; visual perception