Several theories have stressed the importance of intersensory integration f
or development but have not identified specific underlying integration mech
anisms. The author reviews and synthesizes current knowledge about the deve
lopment of intersensory temporal perception and offers a theoretical model
based on epigenetic systems theory, proposing that responsiveness to 4 basi
c features of multimodal temporal experience-temporal synchrony, duration,
temporal rate, and rhythm-emerges in a sequential, hierarchical fashion. Th
e model postulates that initial developmental limitations make intersensory
synchrony the basis for the integration of intersensory temporal relations
and that the emergence of responsiveness to the other, increasingly more c
omplex, temporal relations occurs in a hierarchical, sequential fashion by
building on the previously acquired intersensory temporal processing skills
.