内隐时间知觉是时间知觉的一种，是认知心理学的一个前沿领域。内隐时间知觉通过非时间任务的完成来体现内部的时间表征和加工。已有不少研究探讨了不同类型的非时间任务形成的内隐时间知觉，但是对内隐时间知觉本身的加工机制尚缺乏深入探讨——包括其是否服从类似于外显时间知觉的脉冲累积机制、是否同样受到注意转移的调控、以及内隐与外显时间加工之间是否存在脉冲累积的竞争等。本项目在前人研究基础上，利用行为和ERP技术系统探讨以内源性时间期待为代表的内隐时间知觉的认知及神经机制。研究问题包括：内源性时间期待中，是否存在建立在脉冲累积机制上的位置效应；是否存在源于注意分享和转移机制的非时间任务的加工需求效应；外显时间知觉如何干扰内源性时间期待；以及内源性时间期待如何影响同时性外显时间加工等。根据以上研究问题，本项目提出了相应研究假设，并利用ERP的高时间分辨率进一步探索内源性时间期待中内部表征和注意调控的神经机制。

A frontier topic in cognitive psychology is how human beings process the lapse of perceived time implicitly. Recently, studies had demonstrated different types of implicit timing due to various non-temporal tasks used. However, so far, there is lack of systematic investigation on issues such as whether implicit timing shares similar mechanisms of temporal pulse accumulation and attentional modulation as explicit timing, and whether there is resource conflict between two or multiple temporal pulse accumulations across implicit and explicit timing. On the basis of current literature, we try to explore the cognitive mechanisms and the underlying neutral substrates of endogenous temporal expectation (a representative instance of implicit timing) by using behavioral and neurophysiological measurements. Proposed research questions include: Can we observe location effect in endogenous temporal expectation, which is a signature of the mechanism of temporal pulse accumulation? Can we observe the effect of processing demand of a non-temporal task, which is predicted by the framework of attentional sharing and shifting? How explicit temporal processing may interfere with endogenous temporal expectation? And how endogenous temporal expectation may constrain the capacity of explicit simultaneous temporal processing? In order to test those questions directly, we have proposed several feasible hypotheses. Finally, high temporal-resolution Electroencephalography (EEG) recording is also used to explore the neutral mechanisms of internal representation and attentional modulation underlying endogenous temporal expectation.