Factors underlying flicker-induced time dilation: Temporal frequency, semantic content, and subjective saliency of visual stimuli
Takeya Oda, Amirmahmoud Houshmand Chatroudi, Yuko Yotsumoto · 2026
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Description
Takeya Oda, Amirmahmoud Houshmand Chatroudi, and Yuko Yotsumoto asked what makes a flickering image feel like it lasts longer than it does, in a 2026 study. This flicker-induced time dilation is a sturdy illusion, but whether meaning in the image matters, beyond the flicker itself, was unknown. The team made flickers from faces and houses, plus scrambled versions with no meaning, at three speeds, and had people judge durations and rate how striking each stimulus felt.
Faster flicker reliably stretched felt duration. Meaning never did, at any speed, with or without brightness pulsing. Yet meaningful images did feel more striking, and strikingness rose with flicker speed too. The split shows that feeling an image is vivid is not what stretches time. The authors conclude the illusion is driven by low-level timing signals in early vision, not by higher-level processing of content.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Takeya Oda, Amirmahmoud Houshmand Chatroudi, Yuko Yotsumoto |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 44 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |