Perception and Neurosciences
General objective
Psychological time is at the heart of adaptation to the environment, and is the focus of theoretical and empirical concerns at the Perceptual Psychology Research Laboratory. Here, time is studied primarily through a psychophysical approach. In other words, using methods developed in the field of psychophysics, and also drawing on the laws of psychophysics, we attempt to understand the mechanisms involved in making judgments about time. We are interested in what causes variability when successive judgments are made, and in the factors likely to create a certain distortion of perceived time.
Some research activities are devoted to studying the fundamental processes involved in time perception, while others focus on understanding affective and social adaptation from a temporal perspective.
Time: Fundamental processes
We believe that there is an internal clock and are trying to understand how it works. Our current research program focuses on the study of very short intervals (less than a second), with a particular emphasis on
- identifying temporal properties within different sensory modes, and how the auditory, visual and tactile senses differ or resemble each other in the context of temporal judgments;
- determining how attention mechanisms and memory and categorization processes contribute to adjustment to time;
- how space is taken into account in temporal judgments when the stimuli delimiting time come from different sources;
- understanding the mechanisms involved in the perception and production of rhythm and tempo.
This research program on the psychophysics of time has received generous financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) since 1991, with funding assured until at least 2023.
Time: Cognitive neurosciences
Thanks to the generous support of NSERC, it is now possible to study the mechanisms of temporal information processing in the laboratory, using electroencephalography (EEG). A great deal of work is also being carried out in collaboration, in particular with Giovanna Mioni of the University of Padova. This work enables us, for example, to use transcranial direct current stimulation or transcranial magnetic stimulation, or to work with special populations (depressed, anxious, Parkinson's sufferers, etc.). Recent work has also focused on temporal information processing in stutterers and autistic people.
Recent titles from the funded program:
- Timing and time perception: Psychophysical and neuroscience investigations
- Uncovering the architecture of the temporal mind
Emotional and social adaptation
Some of the laboratory's activities are aimed at measuring sensitivity to emotional expression, prejudice and certain political allegiances. This sensitivity is measured using tasks specific to the psychophysics of duration. Attempts are also being made to link this sensitivity to personality factors related to psychological time.
Other work aims to study what influences preferences for certain cinematographic and pictorial works of art. These preferences are studied using a psychophysical approach called "hedonic contrast".
This research program received generous financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) between 2006 and 2019.
Title of funded program:
- Studies of social sensitivities and preferences using psychophysical tasks.
Sports Performance Analysis
Various projects in the laboratory focus on the cognitive analysis of sports performance. For example, it is possible to analyze eye movements while watching a sports scene unfold. Work is also being carried out on comparing performance levels in different temporal tasks (timing) among different experts (in sport and music).
An ongoing research program (2020-2025) is generously funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). This program is entitled "Towards an understanding of the determinants of efficiency in ice hockey".