The experience of the flow of time seems to be an integral part of conscious awareness. One cannot conceive of being conscious without pervading experience of an irreversible series of changes in the contents of consciousness. Phenomenologically, it can be described as a stream of experiences wherein future events approach, become present, and subsequently recede into the past [1]. The flow of time seems to be directly experienced (although this is debated, as we will see later). According to Le Poidevin, “We just see time passing in front of us, in the movement of the second hand around the clock, or the falling of sand through an hourglass, or indeed any motion or change at all” [2].

The purpose of this brief review is to introduce the reader to current attempts aimed at explaining the perception of the flow of time. Before we begin, the first issue to address is the following question: is the flow of time an objective thing since we are talking about its ‘perception’? Or, in other words, is it just an illusion, generated by the brain/mind, and the flow of time is not a physical phenomenon? This is a hotly debated topic in the philosophy of time 3, 4. There is, however, a prevailing consensus that current physical theories should be interpreted as favoring the second alternative [5], with no place for the flow of time in the special or general relativity theories (so-called ‘block universe’ interpretation [6]). The reverse opinion, acknowledging the objectivity of time’s flow, is referred to as ‘presentism’ [6].

The main text of the paper will include an overview of the most representative approaches addressing the issue of the experience of time’s flow. Because of editorial requirements, it will be brief, so only the most important theoretical terms and the selection of the most influential theories will be covered. The goal is to present the general theoretical ‘landscape’ related to the study of the temporal aspects of conscious experience.