Developmental trajectory of time perception from childhood to adolescence

Time perception is crucial for every human activity. However, it remains unclear how temporal performance changes from childhood to adolescence. Therefore, we examined the continuous development of interval timing perception in children and adolescents. In this study, participants aged from 7 to 17 performed a temporal bisection task. They received the short and the long standard stimulus durations and then judged the similarity of seven comparison durations to the short or the long standard durations. Results of indices of time perception showed that the bisection points did not differ across age groups. In contrast, the time sensitivity reflected by the difference limen and the Weber ratio improved from childhood to adolescence. It was further revealed that the development of time sensitivity consisted of two stages. In the stage of 7 to 11 years old, the time sensitivity increased with age, while in the stage of 12 to 17 years old, the time sensitivity was similar across age groups. Our findings reveal dissociable developmental patterns for different indices of the bisection behavior, mapping the continuous developmental trajectory of time perception throughout childhood and adolescence.