Temporal and spatial processing in the visual modality: behavioral and fMRI evidence from temporal reproduction task

Time perception, the ability to perceive and estimate the duration of time
intervals, is a fundamental aspect of human cognition and is crucial for daily
activities. However, an understanding of how temporal stimuli are processed
remains incomplete. Few studies have explored pause duration in temporal
reproduction tasks, revealing two critical stages of timing perception: the
transition zone and the plateau. The transition zone, occurring for approximately 3 seconds after stimulus presentation, involves continuous updates in reproduced duration and shows the processing of the temporal stimulus. The
plateau, occurring before the response, is about the storing and preparation
for duration reproduction. In the behavioral experiments here, it was found
that the transition zone is modality-independent and goes up to 2-3 seconds.
Since the visual modality was implemented, the spatial characteristics of the
visual field were also investigated. It was shown that the eccentricity of visual stimuli affects the reproduced duration. Spatial manipulation, like cueing, affected both effects: transition zone and eccentricity effect. An fMRI study investigated the processing of temporal stimuli in reproduction task, examining neural activation during the transition zone and plateau stages. These findings indicate that the transition zone activates the posterior insula, caudate, and putamen, and the plateau stage shows activation in the frontal medial cortex. A resting-state study addressed the individual differences in participants’ responses. This study provides new insights into the neural mechanisms underlying time perception and the factors influencing it.