Time Perception

November 13, 2025 – Presentation
Wednesday, November 13, 2025, at 3:30 p.m. [location to be announced]

Nicola Thibault is a PhD student at Université Laval. His thesis, which will be defended at the end of 2025, aims to better understand the neurofunctional differences involved in processing short and long time intervals. To explore these differences, he uses EEG and anatomical MRI.

At the Border of the Second: Exploring Time Perception and Influencing Factors, Including Expertise and Sensory Modality

Abstract:

Time perception is an essential process for many cognitive and motor functions, spanning a wide range of durations from milliseconds to several years. Yet, the brain mechanisms that differentiate time perception at various scales remain poorly understood. This thesis explores the hypothesis that the perception of stimuli below and beyond 1.2 seconds relies on distinct and dynamic brain mechanisms influenced by the sensory characteristics of stimuli and by individuals’ musical expertise. Several studies have demonstrated distinct mechanisms between these two durations, but results vary due to methodological choices and the neuroimaging tools employed.

Using a passive paradigm combined with electroencephalography recordings, three studies were conducted to better understand how the brain encodes and discriminates temporal intervals below and beyond 1.2 seconds. Study 1 shows that the processing of deviant time intervals shorter and longer than one second in the auditory modality are distinct. Deviance in short intervals appears to be processed by sensory regions, while temporal deviance for longer intervals is handled by a more distributed “cognitive” network. Study 2 reveals that sensory modality significantly influences the processing of temporal deviance for intervals under 1.2 seconds, supporting theories of modality-specific temporal information processing at this duration. Study 3 shows that musical expertise promotes greater recruitment of areas associated with cognitive processes in the processing of temporal deviance for intervals both below and beyond 1.2 seconds. This finding helps contextualize the superior performance of musicians in time perception tasks.

Overall, the results of this thesis converge on the idea that time perception—particularly temporal deviance detection—relies on distinct mechanisms for durations below and beyond 1.2 seconds. These mechanisms are sensitive to both the sensory modality of stimulus presentation and musical expertise. The complementarity between intrinsic models (based on sensory networks) and centralized models (involving supra-modal cognitive networks) is discussed in light of the findings.

Biography:
Nicola Thibault is a PhD student in Research and Intervention at Université Laval, under the supervision of Simon Grondin and Philippe Albouy.