The Vestibular System's Influence on the Perceived Duration of Lights, Sounds, and Touches

Abstract

Time perception is essential to human experience, but factors like microgravity can alter it (Navarro Morales et al., 2023). To explore the role of gravity, I compared time perception in standing and supine postures. Participants (n=124) judged whether stimuli (light, sound, tactile vibration) lasted longer or shorter than 1 second. In Experiment 1, participants judged light duration; in Experiment 2, sound; in Experiment 3, tactile vibration; and in Experiment 4, visual duration with and without disruptive galvanic vestibular stimulation (dGVS). Results revealed that light and tactile stimuli were perceived as longer than auditory stimuli, but the perception of auditory and tactile durations was unaffected by posture. However, visual duration was perceived as significantly longer when supine (45ms) or with dGVS (66ms). These findings suggest that the vestibular system influences visual time perception, with disruptions slowing the perception of time.