The role of consciously timed movements in shaping and improving auditory timing.

Our subjective sense of time is intertwined with a plethora of perceptual, cognitive and motor functions, and likewise, the brain is equipped to expertly filter, weight and combine these signals for seamless interactions with a dynamic world. Until relatively recently, the literature on time perception has excluded the influence of simultaneous motor activity, yet it has been found that motor circuits in the brain are at the core of most timing functions. Several studies have now identified that concurrent movements exert robust effects on perceptual timing estimates, but critically have not assessed how humans consciously judge the duration of their own movements.

How movements shape the perception of time.

In order to keep up with a changing environment, mobile organisms must be capable of deciding both where and when to move. This precision necessitates a strong sense of time, as otherwise we would fail in many of our movement goals. Yet, despite this intrinsic link, only recently have researchers begun to understand how these two features interact.