The thalamus is a key areas which is involved in what is known as the "half-second delay". This is a perceptual illusion which has only recently been discovered. The discovery is as follows: we perceive events in the world as instantaneous. They happen when we see (hear, sense) them happening. But the processing of visual signals at least is what the thalamus does. Experientially, we see events happening (so we think) without any delay. But in reality "it takes half a second for the brain to organise the data" which comes in from, let us say, vision. But we do not sense that half-second delay at all. Our perception of events is that we see them as they happen.