Haering, C. & Kiesel, A.
University of Wuerzburg. Germany
When an action produces an effect, both events are perceived to be shifted in time towards each other. However, the mechanisms behind this intentional binding (IB) effect are not clear. One assumption postulates that this shift in time perception occurs for predictable effects because of existing action-effect bindings and the possibility to anticipate the self-produced effect. Yet, alternatively one may assume that IB occurs for any effect caused by the action to facilitate the formation of action-effect bindings. To disentangle both accounts, we compared time perception of actions and predictable or unpredictable effects. We used three measures of time perception, a clock-approach to assess the perceived points in time of actions and effects and two measures of duration estimation. Participants performed freely chosen left or right keypresses that produced either high or low tones after 250 ms. The tones were either predictably or randomly assigned to the two keys. The amount of IB was similar for predictable and unpredictable effects. We assume that IB is not the result of existing action-effect bindings but occurs for any self-produced action effect probably to facilitate action-effect learning.