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When is “now”? In the past to compensate for the sensation of time or in the future as a prediction of the temporal sensory horizon?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2026

Pascal Mamassian Open the ORCID record for Pascal Mamassian [Opens in a new window]
Pascal Mamassian*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France pascal.mamassian@ens.fr
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*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Fleming and Michel discuss the slowness of conscious vision and the predictions generated by an internal model of the world. However, these two points correspond to two different times. The slowness of consciousness puts the organisms in the past, whereas predictions give them a preview of the future. Given this tension between past and future representations, when is “now”?

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Open Peer Commentary
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 49 , 2026 , e182
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© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

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