Multiple channels of visual time perception

- We review evidence for several timing mechanisms across visual space.
- Selective adaptation reveals also specific temporal channels tuned for duration.
- Eye movements induce distortions in perceived time.
- Intervals shown in the same position can be processed without attention.
- This evidence challenges the existence of a single clock across and within each modality.

The proposal that the processing of visual time might rely on a network of distributed mechanisms that are vision-specific and timescale-specific stands in contrast to the classical view of time perception as the product of a single supramodal clock. Evidence showing that some of these mechanisms have a sensory component that can be locally adapted is at odds with another traditional assumption, namely that time is completely divorced from space. Recent evidence suggests that multiple timing mechanisms exist across and within sensory modalities and that they operate in various neural regions. The current review summarizes this evidence and frames it into the broader scope of models for time perception in the visual domain.