Factors affecting the filled-duration illusion in the auditory,tactual, and visual modalities

The filled-duration illusion was investigated for auditory, tactual, and visual presentation. The number of intervening discrete elements was the most important factor, as durations with more elements were judged longer than durations with fewer elements. In addition, the configuration of the intervening elements affected judgments. However, the illusion was identical in all three modalities. A cognitive explanation based on counting the number of intervening elements seemed most satisfactory.