Distracted to a fault: Attention, actions, and time perception

• Published in: Attention, perception & psychophysics Vol. 85; no. 2; pp. 301 - 314
• Main Authors: Schwarz, Katharina A., Weller, Lisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.02.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Attention; Behavioral Science and Psychology; CLOCK Proteins; Cognitive Psychology; Humans; Intention; Paradigms; Perceptions; Psychology; Psychomotor Performance; Resistance (Psychology); Time Perception; Temporal processing; Temporal binding; Perception and action; Attention
• ISSN: 1943-3921; 1943-393X
• DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02632-x

In the last years, it has become general consensus that actions change our time perception. Performing an action to elicit a specific event seems to lead to a systematic underestimation of the interval between action and effect, a phenomenon termed temporal (or previously intentional) binding. Temporal binding has been closely associated with sense of agency, our perceived control over our actions and our environment, and because of its robust behavioral effects has indeed been widely utilized as an implicit correlate of sense of agency. The most robust and clear temporal binding effects are typically found via Libet clock paradigms. In the present study, we investigate a crucial methodological confound in these paradigms that provides an alternative explanation for temporal binding effects: a redirection of attentional resources in two-event sequences (as in classical operant conditions) versus singular events (as in classical baseline conditions). Our results indicate that binding effects in Libet clock paradigms may be based to a large degree on such attentional processes, irrespective of intention or action-effect sequences. Thus, these findings challenge many of the previously drawn conclusions and interpretations with regard to actions and time perception.