# Distortions of space and time in and around objects and events

## TL;DR

This paper explores how our perception of objects and events distorts our sense of space and time, similar to how gravity affects physical space and time.

## Contribution

The paper reveals that distortions of space and time in perception are analogous, suggesting a deep relationship between their representations.

## Key findings

- Objects and events cause perceptual distortions of space and time, respectively.
- Many spatial and temporal illusions are perfect analogs, indicating shared underlying mechanisms.
- These distortions reveal how perceptual and mnemonic systems are organized in the human mind.

## Abstract

Our perceptual experience is not a veridical representation of the world around us. We perceive structure in the form of objects and events, and this structure has consequences. Like gravity distorts space and time in the physical world, objects and events distort space and time in our minds, resulting in a plethora of illusions that observers can readily appreciate for themselves. Moreover, many of these distortions of space (caused by objects) and time (caused by events) appear to be perfect analogs of one another—suggesting a deep relationship between the representation of space and time, objects and events. Here we review dozens of illusions of space and time, discussing how they relate to one another and what these relations reveal about the organization of perceptual and mnemonic systems in the human mind.