Mnemonic Content and Hippocampal Patterns Shape Judgments of Time

Our experience of time can feel dilated or compressed, rather than reflecting true clock time. Although many contextual factors influence the subjective perception of time, it is unclear how memory accessibility plays a role in constructing our experience of and memory for time. Here, we used a combination of behavioral and functional MRI measures in healthy young adults (N = 147) to ask the question of how memory is incorporated into temporal duration judgments. Behaviorally, we found that event boundaries, which have been shown to disrupt ongoing memory integration processes, result in the temporal compression of duration judgments. Additionally, using a multivoxel pattern similarity analysis of functional MRI data, we found that greater temporal pattern change in the left hippocampus within individual trials was associated with longer duration judgments. Together, these data suggest that mnemonic processes play a role in constructing representations of time.

Automated summary

Our perception of time can be distorted and influenced by various factors, including memory accessibility. Through behavioral and functional MRI measures, we found that event boundaries disrupt memory integration processes and lead to compressed duration judgments. Furthermore, the temporal pattern change in the left hippocampus was associated with longer duration judgments, suggesting that mnemonic processes play a role in constructing representations of time.