Project information
The Effect of Individual Visual Sensitivity on Time Perception (ESSenT)

The human mind, trying to perceive events coherently, creates the illusion of continuous time passage. Empirical evidence suggests distortions in subjectively perceived time flow associated with well-studied neural responses to sensory stimuli. This study aims to investigate whether visually uncomfortable patterns, causing exceptionally strong brain activation, affect short time estimates and whether these estimates vary based on the overall reported sensory sensitivity and cortical excitability of individuals. Two experiments in virtual reality testing our assumptions at different levels of complexity of timed stimuli will provide initial insight into the studied processes in highly controlled and realistic conditions. We predict that visually uncomfortable stimuli will cause subjective time expansion, especially among those with increased sensitivity to sensory stimuli. The expected results would be a first step towards behavioral testing of individual sensory sensitivity through time perception.