Could one idea explain why linked events feel closer in time?

Details

Temporal binding is the subjective compression of the interval between one event and another that occurs later. The authors discuss two ways of conceptualizing it.

When temporal binding occurs between a voluntary action and its causal consequences, researchers typically interpret it as a measure of an implicit or pre-reflective sense of agency. Temporal binding has also been observed when people passively watch a cause-and-effect sequence without acting voluntarily. In that context, it has been interpreted as a top-down effect on perception reflecting a belief in causality.

The authors note that these views need not conflict if they describe two separate mechanisms of temporal binding. They explore an alternative: a single explanation for binding both within and outside voluntary action, as a top-down effect on perception reflecting a belief in causality. Such an explanation must account for evidence that agency and factors associated with it affect the strength of binding.

The authors argue that principles of causal inference and causal selection already familiar from research on causal learning could explain why people's causal beliefs vary with how actively they are involved in bringing events about, and in turn affect binding. This is a proposed theoretical explanation, not a reported new experiment.