Time Perception and Processing in Human Infants

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

The perception and processing of time is a critical aspect of human experience in many domains. It has long been investigated within theories of learning, but it has also been demonstrated to be relevant to more complex cognitive abilities, and its study has been linked recently with both developmental disabilities and enhancing our knowledge of brain function. Time perception has been specifically investigated in children, but to this point, we know very little about how time is perceived or processed during human infancy. However, a recent study with innovative methodologies monitored infants' heart rate while they were presented with a visual stimulus sequence in a predictable on-off pattern. After several repetitions of these patterns, the stimulus was omitted., and infants showed a slowing (deceleration) of the heartbeat. The timing of when that deceleration occurred suggested when the infants expected the stimulus to reappear, and the timing of that heart rate response indicated that human infants show an extraordinarily precise sense of time. The studies supported by this grant award use this basic procedure to conduct a series of four experiments on the sense of time in 4- and 9-month-old infants. The first experiment examines whether infants can accurately perceive regular time intervals of different lengths. The second examines how infants respond to time intervals that are variable. The third studies whether infants can form simple rules about whether time intervals increase or decrease. Finally, the fourth study examines the degree to which distracting infants' attention affects their sense of time. The perception and processing of time is a fundamental aspect of human behavior. Philosophers such as Aristotle, Kant, and Wittgenstein have pondered its significance to human experience, and it should come as no surprise that the perception of time has been an important topic within the psychology as well. Time perception is critical to learning, given that the elapsed time between events in our environment governs whether the brain will associate those events. Thus, the study of how we process time will illuminate a number of basic human abilities, such as our learning of language, our linking causes with effects, and our perception and judgments during social interactions.