Why does time feel the way it does? Toward a principled account of temporal experience

Time flows-or at least the time of our experience does. Can we provide an objective account of why the conscious present encompasses a succession of moments that slip from <i>now</i> to <i>then</i>-an account of why time feels flowing? Integrated Information Theory (IIT) aims to account for both the presence and quality of consciousness in objective, physical terms. Given a substrate's architecture and current state, IIT's formalism yields a cause-effect structure that fully accounts for experience. Here, we show that unfolding the cause-effect structure of <i>directed</i> grids can explain why time feels <i>flowing</i>. We argue that the conscious present feels flowing because it is composed of phenomenal distinctions (<i>moments</i>) that are directed and related via inclusion, connection, and fusion. Time, on this view, is not a process in clock time but a structure specified by the system's current state. We conclude by outlining implications for the psychophysics, philosophy, and neuroscience of time.