Human tIming perception (was: RT patch)

From: Steve Finney (saf76_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 05/31/05

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    Date:	Tue, 31 May 2005 12:59:03 -0400 (EDT)
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org

    Ingo Molnar wrote:
    > so in terms of mouse pointer 'smoothness', it might very well be
    > possible for humans to detect a couple of msec delays visually - even
    > though they are unable to notice those delays directly. (Isnt there some
    > existing research on this?)

    With great trepidation, I put on my experimental psychologist
    hat and add to this thread from the recent archive...

    Bruno Repp at Haskins Labs has done some interesting work
    showing that the motor system can respond to timing perturbations
    which are below the limit of conscious perception. The
    experiments used synchronization tapping, where the person's task is
    to tap their finger in synchrony with a sequence of evenly
    timed tones (say, 5/second). It takes (IIRC) about a 10 ms or
    so difference in the sounded sequence
    for someone to be able to report that there's been a change, but
    a cnange in the timing of the person's finger movements occurs
    (_immediately_) at perturbations smaller than 10 ms. That is, there
    appears to be some dissociation between conscious perception and
    perceptual/motor behavior.

    This was audition, and vision might be signficantly different, but
    it provides some support for Ingo's hypothesis above.

    Sorry, I don't have my academic references handy, but the following
    is probably one of the relevant publications:

    Repp, B. H. (2002b). Automaticity and voluntary control of phase correction
    following event onset shifts in sensorimotor synchronization. Journal of
    Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28, 410-430.

    Back to lurking,
    Steve Finney

    PS Thanks for all the kernel work!
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