A trace theory of time perception.

In short

The authors propose a theory that our sense of time duration is actually based on how strongly memories of the start and end signals persist in our minds. They argue that because these memory traces interact like visual colors or brightness, they naturally create common timing distortions such as illusions and errors. This framework explains why sequential stimuli often mislead us about time without needing to invent new rules for each specific situation.

The summaries on this page were written by a small AI model running on my own computer, from the paper's abstract. They can get details wrong; the paper is the source.

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