Abstract:
Time perception has long been a focus among cognitive neuroscientists. An abundance
on research on time perception and the underlying theories has demonstrated that
subjective judgments of time can be significantly distorted based on various physical
properties of a stimulus. One of the areas of time perception research that has garnered
attention is the perception time dilation, in which the perception of time can expand, or
contract based on the motion and velocity of a stimulus. However, the understanding of
the underlying neuronal mechanisms of time dilation remain controversial. To that end,
this study utilized a discrimination task using random dot motion stimuli along with
transcranial magnetic stimulation to induce the effect of time dilation as well as inhibit
the regions of the brain associated with time perception and motion based on previous
literature. The results found that TMS to MT/V5 reduces accuracy for speed while TMS
to the SMG slightly reduces accuracy for time. Additionally, we found that while motion
impacts the perception of time, time does not impact motion.
