A Sensory-Origin Model of Prospective Timing

Prospective timing, the ability to judge the duration of ongoing events, is critical for everyday functioning, such as coordinating actions, interpreting communication, and anticipating outcomes. While influential theories, including Scalar Expectancy Theory and the Striatal Beat Frequency model, have shaped our understanding of timing, they leave unresolved how the timing process is first triggered. This article proposes the Sensory-Origin Timing (SOT) model, a novel mechanism whereby prospective timing is initiated by sensory organs, with their activity providing the source for duration estimation. Specifically, we suggest that the total activity generated by the sensory organ during the transduction of a stimulus is directly related to its duration and is monitored by the striatum to form a neural representation of elapsed time. Two electroretinography studies tested this proposal in the visual modality. In Study 1, retinal activity predicted subjective duration judgments even when objective stimulus duration was held constant. In Study 2, retinal activity conformed to two fundamental scalar principles of prospective timing: mean accuracy and Weber’s law. These findings are consistent with the SOT model, providing direct support for its validity. By grounding the origin of duration perception in sensory activity, SOT addresses key limitations of existing cognitive and neurobiological theories, provides a bridge between them, and delivers a unified framework that can explain established temporal distortions and cross-modal differences. More broadly, by clarifying how timing is initiated, SOT strengthens the theoretical foundations of time perception and advances our understanding of its role in cognition and behaviour.