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Saccadic eye movements cause compression of time as well as space

Nature Neuroscience volume 8, pages 950–954 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

There is now considerable evidence that space is compressed when stimuli are flashed shortly before or after the onset of a saccadic eye movement. Here we report that short intervals of time between two successive perisaccadic visual (but not auditory) stimuli are also underestimated, indicating a compression of perceived time. We were even more surprised that in a critical interval before saccades, perceived temporal order is consistently reversed. The very similar time courses of spatial and temporal compression suggest that both are mediated by a common neural mechanism, probably related to the predictive shifts that occur in receptive fields of many visual areas at the time of saccades.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the experimental setup.
Figure 2: Compression of time during saccades.
Figure 3: Compression and increased precision of time during saccades.
Figure 4: Temporal inversion.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge relevant previous work in our laboratory by M.R. Diamond. This research was funded by grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Committee and by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (Progetti di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facoltà di Psicologia, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 58, Milano, 20132, Italy

    M Concetta Morrone

  2. School of Psychology, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    John Ross

  3. Istituto di Neuroscienze del CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56100, Italy

    David Burr

  4. Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Firenze, Via S. Nicolò 89, Firenze, Italy

    David Burr

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  1. M Concetta Morrone
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Correspondence to David Burr.

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Morrone, M., Ross, J. & Burr, D. Saccadic eye movements cause compression of time as well as space. Nat Neurosci 8, 950–954 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1488

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