Space and Time in Benussi Tau Effect

Vittorio Benussi was the first researcher to demonstrate that, in perception, space and time are deeply intertwined. In particular, he showed the effect later known as “tau effect”, where the length of temporal intervals influence the judgement on spatial distances. Although several years passed, the link between space and time has no yet definitely clarified. The aim of this paper is to replicate Benussi’s original experiment in order to better analyse the conditions in which tau effect appears with visual stimuli. Our results confirmed the influence of the duration of temporal intervals on the perceived length of spatial distances. An interaction between space and time with both the position of the Standard Stimulus and the direction of stimuli presentation adds further meaning to Benussi results.