The role of time perception in goal-directed action

In pursuit of a desired future state, much of human behavior is geared toward achieving certain goals. How are these goals represented in the cognitive system, and how do they gain the power to control bodily movements? According to the ideomotor theory, whenever actions are performed, they become bi-directionally associated with the accompanying perceptual effects. These action-effect associations are suggested to form the basis of goal-directed actions. By anticipating the perceptual effects related to intended goals, associated goal-directed actions can be generated. The claims of ideomotor theory received substantial empirical support in recent years. However, previous studies primarily used momentary effects, and whether temporal effect features can also be associated with and used in performing goal-directed was not directly investigated. The present study utilized a two-staged ideomotor learning paradigm to address this gap. In the acquisition stage, participants established action-effect associations by performing actions and experiencing their dynamic effects, which specifically involved duration as the contingent feature. In the subsequent test stage, participants were instructed to respond to the previously associated action-effects. Overall, the actions compatible with the acquired action-effect mapping were facilitated. However, this facilitation appeared to rely on the saliency of the to-be-acquired dynamic effects compared to already present body-related effects during acquisition. The findings indicate that people can anticipate how long the effects of their actions will last and that the temporal effect features might play an important role in goal-directed action control.