Spatial attention modulates time perception on the human torso

Time perception is a fundamental aspect of human life, and is infuenced and regulated by cognitive and sensory processes.
For instance, spatial attention is found to modulate temporal judgments when resources are allocated to a specifc stimulus
location in vision and audition. However, it is unclear to what extent the attentional efects observed in vision and audition can
be generalized to the tactile modality. Here, we study the efects of attentional cues on the time perception of tactile stimuli
presented on the human torso. Across four experiments, we examined (1) the impact of visual versus tactile spatial cues, (2)
the modulation of time perception by dynamic versus static tactile cues, (3) the role of spatial congruency between cue and
target locations (front vs. back of the torso), and (4) the infuence of cue-target intervals. Participants performed temporal
bisection tasks, judging whether the vibrations following the cues were closer to short or long anchor durations. Tactile cues
expanded the perceived duration of subsequent stimuli, with dynamic cues having a greater efect than static ones. While
no congruency efects were observed for left and right torso locations, front-back congruency enhanced time expansion.
The attentional efect peaked at a 100-ms cue-target interval. We conclude that the time-expanding efects of spatial attention extend to tactile stimuli on the human torso given that time expansion follows principles known from spatial attention.