Time perception is mildly affected by spatial distance and tool-use training

Recent studies suggest that our perception of time is tied to the embodiment of space. In particular, they suggest that time intervals are perceived or reproduced differently for stimuli at different distances from our body, and that this interaction of space and time is altered when we interact with spatial distances using tools. To corroborate these findings, we performed a series of experiments in physical and virtual setups, testing 218 participants on a time reproduction task for stimuli presented at three distances from the body (60, 120 & 240 cm). In between testing sessions participants performed tool-use training, whereby they either used physical or virtual tools to manipulate objects at distances between 120 and 200 cm from their body. Prior to training, the reproduced intervals were overall longer for stimuli at an intermediate distance (120cm) compared to near the body (60cm). Tool-use training significantly shortened the reproduced intervals for stimuli at 120 cm, hence the distance at which tool-use training was operated. Participants' sensitivity to the presented intervals did not differ between distances prior to training, but was significantly reduced by tool-use training systematically at all distances. We observed qualitatively similar results for experiments in physical and virtual setups. Yet, the effect sizes for individual experiments were small, pointing to systematic but weak effects. Overall, this supports previous claims that time perception is tied to space and our interaction with this, though further work is required to understand the robustness and specificity of these effects. Keywords: Time perception, Peripersonal Space, Space Representation, Active Tool-use