Temporal Integration of Visual Information – IntegratedTime

The temporal perception of visual events is not simply delayed relative to physical time. Sensory signals are consolidated in temporal integration windows before a perceptual decision is reached. The existence of these windows is often acknowledged but their role in visual perception is rarely studied. We focus here on three sets of issues that we believe are fundamental for time perception: (1) how adaptive are the windows to different contexts, (2) when are events perceived within a window, and (3) what are the consequences of the integration windows on the perceived identity and location of objects? We believe that addressing these issues will help us explain basic and puzzling phenomena in time perception such as the Fröhlich effect, the flash-lag and the flash-drag effects, and the late cue reportability effect. Because these effects are strongly phenomenological, our method of choice is the design of new carefully controlled psychophysical experiments. The project involves three researchers from two laboratories, the “Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs” (LSP, CNRS/ENS) and the “Integrative Neuroscience & Cognition Center” (INCC, CNRS/Univ. Paris).