Phenomenal consciousness as an efficiency amplifier of agency: insights from time perception.
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences November 13, 2025 Antonella Tramacere 1 citation
Subjective time distortions—such as time slowing down in threatening situations or compressing during familiar tasks—are not malfunctions but adaptive features that enhance agency. Perceived duration often aligns with what is useful for the organism, improving temporal control, learning, and prediction. These illusions demonstrate the system's ability to construct a subjectively meaningful reality that boosts action potential. Analyzing temporal experiences across species can reveal whether nonhuman animals also experience time's structure as necessary for predicting and responding to interactions between self and world.