A mechanism of synaptic clock underlying subjective time perception

Abstract

Temporal resolution of visual information processing is thought to be an important factor in predator-prey interactions, shaped in the course of evolution by animals' ecology. Here I show that light can be considered to have a dual role of a source of information, which guides motor actions, and an environmental feedback for those actions. I consequently show how temporal perception might depend on behavioral adaptations realized by the nervous system. I propose an underlying mechanism of synaptic clock, with every synapse having its characteristic time unit, determined by the persistence of memory traces of synaptic inputs, which is used by the synapse to tell time. The present theory offers a testable framework, which may account for numerous experimental findings, including the interspecies variation in temporal resolution and the properties of subjective time perception, specifically the variable speed of perceived time passage, depending on emotional and attentional states or tasks performed.