Observers Exploit Stochastic Models of Sensory Change to Help Judge the Passage of Time
Observers Exploit Stochastic Models of Sensory Change to Help Judge the Passage of Time
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.043
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发表时间：
2011-02-08
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Sahani, Maneesh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ahrens, Misha B.;Sahani, Maneesh
感官刺激会系统性地影响人们对时间流逝的感知[1-5]，但这种情况发生的原因和方式却很神秘。在本报告中，我们提供的证据表明，这种偏差最终可能源于对随机演变的动态刺激的固有和适应性使用，以帮助完善内部计时机制的估计[6-15]。基于从自然环境的二阶时间统计导出的刺激变化的概率预期的简化统计模型 [16, 17] 做出了三个预测。首先，统计数据违反自然预期的类似噪声的随机刺激应该会引起时间偏差。其次，先前未探索过的这种效应的反面是，具有自然统计的类似噪声刺激应该减少时序估计的可变性。最后，这种变异性的减少应该随着计时的间隔而变化，从而保持间隔计时的整体韦伯定律。所有三个预测均已通过实验得到证实。因此，在我们新颖的理论框架的背景下，这些结果表明，观察者通常依靠感官输入，通过基于自然环境变化预期的贝叶斯推理过程来增强他们对时间流逝的感觉。
Sensory stimulation can systematically bias the perceived passage of time [1-5], but why and how this happens is mysterious. In this report, we provide evidence that such biases may ultimately derive from an innate and adaptive use of stochastically evolving dynamic stimuli to help refine estimates derived from internal timekeeping mechanisms [6-15]. A simplified statistical model based on probabilistic expectations of stimulus change derived from the second-order temporal statistics of the natural environment [16, 17] makes three predictions. First, random noise-like stimuli whose statistics violate natural expectations should induce timing bias. Second, a previously unexplored obverse of this effect is that similar noise stimuli with natural statistics should reduce the variability of timing estimates. Finally, this reduction in variability should scale with the interval being timed, so as to preserve the overall Weber law of interval timing. All three predictions are borne out experimentally. Thus, in the context of our novel theoretical framework, these results suggest that observers routinely rely on sensory input to augment their sense of the passage of time, through a process of Bayesian inference based on expectations of change in the natural environment.