It is widely accepted that voluntary spatial attention is slow – it can only affect performance with medium and long cue-target intervals. Here, we examined whether this also holds for voluntary temporal attention. We performed a rigorous examination of the time-course of attention allocation to a point in time using two common paradigms for studying endogenous temporal attention: ‘constant foreperiod’ and ‘temporal orienting’. With both paradigms, the task required non-speeded identification of a letter, whose presentation was preceded by a warning cue. This cue was either auditory or visual, and it was either informative or uninformative. Critically, to avoid exogenous attention, the cues did not involve an intensity change. We found significantly higher identification accuracy when the cue was informative than uninformative, suggesting that temporal attention improved perceptual processing. Importantly, reliable effects of temporal attention on perceptual processing were found with as little as 150 ms from cue onset and up to 2400 ms. Hence, measuring endogenous attention in the temporal domain revealed a twofold faster mechanism than what was believed based on measurements in the spatial domain. These findings challenge the common assumption that voluntary processes are inherently slow. Instead, they portray voluntary mechanisms as considerably more flexible and dynamic, and they further underscore the importance of incorporating the temporal domain into the study of human perception.

人们普遍接受的是，自愿的空间注意力缓慢-它仅会影响中等和较长的提示目标间隔的表现。在这里，我们检查了这是否也适合自愿的暂时注意。我们使用两种常见的研究内源时间注意的范式对注意分配到时间点的时间过程进行了严格的检查：“恒定前脚”和“时间定向”。对于这两种范式，该任务都要求对字母进行非快速识别，并在其提示之前给出警告提示。这种提示要么是听觉上的，要么是视觉上的，它是信息性的还是无益的。至关重要的是，为避免引起外界的注意，提示不涉及强度变化。我们发现，提示提示信息多于提示信息时，识别准确性明显提高，表明时间注意力改善了知觉处理。重要的是，从提示开始到150毫秒到2400毫秒之间，发现了时间注意力对感知过程的可靠影响。因此，在时域中测量内源性注意力比在空间域中进行测量所揭示的机制要快两倍。这些发现挑战了一个普遍的假设，即自愿程序本质上是缓慢的。相反，他们将自愿机制描述为更加灵活和动态，并且进一步强调了将时域纳入人类感知研究的重要性。从提示开始到150 ms到2400 ms的时间内，发现时间注意对感知处理的可靠影响。因此，在时域中测量内源性注意力比在空间域中进行测量所揭示的机制要快两倍。这些发现挑战了一个普遍的假设，即自愿程序本质上是缓慢的。相反，他们将自愿机制描述为更加灵活和动态，并且进一步强调了将时域纳入人类感知研究的重要性。从提示开始到150 ms到2400 ms的时间内，发现时间注意对感知处理的可靠影响。因此，在时域中测量内源性注意力比在空间域中进行测量所揭示的机制要快两倍。这些发现挑战了一个普遍的假设，即自愿程序本质上是缓慢的。相反，他们将自愿机制描述为更加灵活和动态，并且进一步强调了将时域纳入人类感知研究的重要性。