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The Time of Perception and the Other Way Around

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Marcus Vinícius C. Baldo ,
André M. Cravo  and
Hamilton Haddad
Marcus Vinícius C. Baldo*
Affiliation:
University of São Paulo (Brazil)
André M. Cravo
Affiliation:
University of São Paulo (Brazil)
Hamilton Haddad
Affiliation:
University of São Paulo (Brazil)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Marcus Vinícius C. Baldo, “Roberto Vieira” Sensory Physiology Lab, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. E-mail: baldo@icb.usp.br
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Abstract

The world we perceive is delayed in relation to its flowing content, as well as the outcome of our actions on the world in relation to the moment we decide to act. This mosaic of different latencies permeating both perception and action has to be taken into account critically in order for us to cope with the temporal challenges constantly imposed by the environment. Fundamental notions, such as the sense of agency and causality, depend on the temporal relationship of events occurring in well-defined windows of time. Here, we offer a broad, yet abridged, historical view of some thought-provoking issues concerning the time of perception and action. From the pioneering work of Wundt, Titchener, and Libet to recent findings and ideas related to the employment of visual illusions as psychophysical probes (such as the flash-lag effect), we have tried to expose some problems inherent to the act of measuring the time of both perception and action, and devise possible solutions as well.

El mundo que percibimos está retardado en relación a su flujo de contenido, al igual que el resultado de nuestras acciones sobre el mundo en relación con el momento en que decidamos actuar. Este mosaico de diferentes latencias que penetra tanto en la percepción como en la acción debe ser tenido en cuenta de forma crítica para poder manejar los retos temporales constantemente impuestos por el entorno. Nociones fundamentales, como el sentido de ser un agente y el de la causalidad, dependen de la relación temporal de los eventos que ocurren en ventanas bien definidas de tiempo. Aquí ofrecemos un panorama histórico extenso pero abreviado de algunas cuestiones provocadoras de la reflexión acerca del tiempo de la percepción y de la acción. Desde los trabajos pioneros de Wundt, Titchener y Libet hasta los descubrimientos recientes y las ideas relacionadas con el empleo de las ilusiones ópticas tales como el efecto “flash-lag”, como sondas psicofísicas, hemos intentado exponer algunos de los problemas inherentes al acto de medir el tiempo, tanto el de la percepción como el de la acción, así como diseñar soluciones posibles.

Keywords

flash-lag effecttime of perceptiontime of actionintentional bindingel efecto flash-lagel tiempo de percepciónel tiempo de acciónligado intencional
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , November 2007 , pp. 258 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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