Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms
Accurate time perception is critical for a number of human behaviours, such as understanding speech and the appreciation of music. However, it remains unresolved whether sensory time perception is mediated by a central timing component regulating all senses, or by a set of distributed mechanisms, ea...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49182/ |
| _version_ | 1848797940309557248 |
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| author | Motola, Aysha Heron, James McGraw, Paul V. Roach, Neil W. Whitaker, David |
| author_facet | Motola, Aysha Heron, James McGraw, Paul V. Roach, Neil W. Whitaker, David |
| author_sort | Motola, Aysha |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Accurate time perception is critical for a number of human behaviours, such as understanding speech and the appreciation of music. However, it remains unresolved whether sensory time perception is mediated by a central timing component regulating all senses, or by a set of distributed mechanisms, each dedicated to a single sensory modality and operating in a largely independent manner. To address this issue, we conducted a range of unimodal and cross-modal rate adaptation experiments, in order to establish the degree of specificity of classical after- effects of sensory adaptation. Adapting to a fast rate of sensory stimulation typically makes a moderate rate appear slower (repulsive after-effect), and vice versa. A central timing hypothesis predicts general transfer of adaptation effects across modalities, whilst distributed mechanisms predict a high degree of sensory selectivity. Rate perception was quantified by a method of temporal reproduction across all combinations of visual, auditory and tactile senses. Robust repulsive after-effects were observed in all unimodal rate conditions, but were not observed for any cross-modal pairings. Our results show that sensory timing abilities are adaptable but, crucially, that this change is modality-specific - an outcome that is consistent with a distributed sensory timing hypothesis. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:11:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-49182 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:11:51Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-491822020-05-04T19:27:14Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49182/ Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms Motola, Aysha Heron, James McGraw, Paul V. Roach, Neil W. Whitaker, David Accurate time perception is critical for a number of human behaviours, such as understanding speech and the appreciation of music. However, it remains unresolved whether sensory time perception is mediated by a central timing component regulating all senses, or by a set of distributed mechanisms, each dedicated to a single sensory modality and operating in a largely independent manner. To address this issue, we conducted a range of unimodal and cross-modal rate adaptation experiments, in order to establish the degree of specificity of classical after- effects of sensory adaptation. Adapting to a fast rate of sensory stimulation typically makes a moderate rate appear slower (repulsive after-effect), and vice versa. A central timing hypothesis predicts general transfer of adaptation effects across modalities, whilst distributed mechanisms predict a high degree of sensory selectivity. Rate perception was quantified by a method of temporal reproduction across all combinations of visual, auditory and tactile senses. Robust repulsive after-effects were observed in all unimodal rate conditions, but were not observed for any cross-modal pairings. Our results show that sensory timing abilities are adaptable but, crucially, that this change is modality-specific - an outcome that is consistent with a distributed sensory timing hypothesis. Nature Publishing Group 2018-01-17 Article PeerReviewed Motola, Aysha, Heron, James, McGraw, Paul V., Roach, Neil W. and Whitaker, David (2018) Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms. Scientific Reports, 8 . 924/1-924/10. ISSN 2045-2322 Human behavior; Sensory processing http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19218-z doi:10.1038/s41598-018-19218-z doi:10.1038/s41598-018-19218-z |
| spellingShingle | Human behavior; Sensory processing Motola, Aysha Heron, James McGraw, Paul V. Roach, Neil W. Whitaker, David Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms |
| title | Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms |
| title_full | Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms |
| title_fullStr | Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms |
| title_short | Rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms |
| title_sort | rate after-effects fail to transfer cross-modally: evidence for distributed sensory timing mechanisms |
| topic | Human behavior; Sensory processing |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49182/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49182/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49182/ |