very well put together and it's true that, for _pragmatic_
reasons, yes we live in a space that can be considered the
present, but still, there are ways to break it down that can get
quite finely grained.
Some of the work being done in the past with psychology and
human perception had very long time-scales in comparison to
conscious awareness.
In my opinion, time scales of 250ms or greater are too long when
speaking of "the present" as that's a 1/4 second. It's very easy
to be aware of many things going on within that 1/4 of a second.
Not that it isn't useful but it's beyond automatic at that point
and it's more in the "stereotypical reactions" that are easy
enough to overcome with simple self-awareness. [introspection].
Music is an easy example. 250ms is a long time in music. At
120bpm, that's 2 beats per second. 500ms each beat. 250ms up
beat, 250ms down beat
stick some triplets in there and you've already bypassed 250ms
quite easily.
There's certainly a bottom limit to awareness - I have the
numbers somewhere, but I suspect you are correct about the optic
tectum. If it's the same area of the brain I'm thinking of, it's
related to the system that pattern matches outlines quickly and
snaps the amygdala and reaction systems into place before we can
say, "WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE?"
That's something we can be aware of nearly real-time - that is,
the difference in time between reaction and recognition.
Then it gets trickier - some things are nearly real-time. For
example, blindsight is something barely studied, but it works.
Drop a plate that you can't see, and you can catch it without
looking or before you're even aware that you dropped it.
I suspect it's related to our internal mental map encompassing
our body and whatever tools we have along with it [like
extending our body to the size of the car we drive, or the
hammer we're holding... or the plate we just dropped]... but I
don't know enough to say, although I suspect when they speak of
blindsight it's more to do with the blind being able to catch a
ball thrown at them even without optic nerves, so long as that
"blue light sensor" is intact... the one that helps regulate
sleep/wake cycles.
In any case, it's an interesting period of time.. this 250ms and
below.
