Assessing intentional binding with the method of constant stimuli

Intentional binding describes the phenomenon that actions and their effects are perceived to be temporally approximated. We introduced a new method of duration estimation to the research field, the method of constant stimuli. Participants freely chose to press one of two keys or experienced passive key presses. After an interval of 250ms or 600ms a visual effect occurred. In Experiment 1, each key produced an effect after a specific interval. In Experiment 2, both keys produced an effect after the same interval that varied between sessions. Participants compared the duration of the action-effect interval with a tone of varying duration. To assess intentional binding, we compared the perceived duration of the action-effect interval between the active and passive condition. We showed intentional binding for 600ms, but not for 250ms action-effect intervals in both experiments. Thus, the method of constant stimuli is suitable to assess intentional binding.     

Bidirectional examination of the interaction between time and numerosity corroborates that numerosity influences time estimation but not vice versa

There has been great interest in the idea that time, number, and space share a common magnitude system. However, only a handful of studies examined bidirectional interaction between time and number and the results varied depending on the specifics of the methods and stimulus properties of each study. The present study investigated bidirectional interaction between time and number using estimation tasks. We used duration (Experiment 1) and numerosity (Experiment 2) estimation tasks to investigate the effect of numerosity‐on‐duration and duration‐on‐numerosity estimation. The results from the two experiments demonstrated that numerosity influences duration processing but not vice versa; that is, there was unidirectional interaction between numerosity and time. The duration of stimulus presentation was overestimated for stimuli larger in (task‐irrelevant) numerosity. Possible mechanisms underlying the unidirectional interaction between time and number are discussed.     

Further evidence of the invalidity of the magnitude estimation method

IntroductionThe magnitude estimation method is widely applied in diverse areas of psychology. However, Weiss (1972) found that this method may produce judgments that inaccurately represent subjective magnitudes: constructing the stimuli according to a factorial design allowed the bias caused by magnitude estimation to be exposed as a spurious divergence of factorial curves.ObjectiveThe present study experimentally compared magnitude estimation with graphic rating and ratio estimation. The comparison of magnitude estimation with graphic rating retested Weiss's finding. The comparison of magnitude estimation with ratio estimation explored the hypothesis that magnitude estimation may cause a divergence of factorial curves due to the requirement of magnitude estimation to multiply and divide numbers—both ratio estimation and magnitude estimation required participants to judge ratios, but only magnitude estimation required mental multiplication and division.MethodUsing a 3 × 4 factorial experimental design, an achromatic disk was presented concentrically with a larger achromatic square. The brightness of the disk varied with the luminance of the disk and, due to simultaneous contrast, with the luminance of the square. Three different groups of participants judged the brightness of the disk: one group by graphic rating, another by ratio estimation, and the third by magnitude estimation.ResultsIn accord with Weiss's results, graphic rating yielded roughly parallel factorial curves whereas magnitude estimation yielded diverging factorial curves. Ratio estimation also yielded roughly parallel factorial curves, supporting the hypothesis that the magnitude estimation task itself may cause divergence of factorial curves due to the requirement of this method to mentally multiply and divide numbers.ConclusionCaution should be taken in using magnitude estimation, especially in factorial experiments, because this method is likely to cause the researcher to make incorrect inferences about the functional relations between the variables involved in mental information integration. Ratio estimation yields a pattern of factorial curves essentially equivalent to that obtained by graphic rating.     

Differences in duration discrimination of filled and empty auditory intervals as a function of base duration

In the present experiments, participants were presented with two time intervals that were marked by auditory signals, and their task was to decide which of the two was longer in duration. In Experiment 1, the base durations were 50 and 1,000msec, whereas in Experiment 2, seven different base durations ranging from 50 to 1,000 msec were employed. It was found that filled intervals (continuous tones) were discriminated more accurately than empty intervals (with onset and offset marked by clicks) at the 50-msec base duration, whereas no performance differences could be shown for longer ones. The findings are consistent with the notion of a unitary timing mechanism that governs the timing of both filled and empty auditory intervals, independent of base durations. A likely conceptual framework that could explain better performance with filled as compared with empty intervals represents an information-processing model of interval timing that evolved from scalar timing theory. According to this account, a performance decrement observed with empty intervals may be due to a misassignment of pulses generated by an internal pacemaker.     

时距长度和速度变化对进度条时距知觉的影响

进度条在人机交互界面中具有广泛应用。本研究运用单任务的预期式范式和口头估计法,探究速度变化对不同时距长度进度条的时距知觉的影响,为进度条的智能化设计提供参考。研究表明：（1）时距长度影响个体的时距估计,时距长度与时距估计比率分数成反比关系;（2）进度条的不同速度变化趋势影响进度条时距知觉,在持续时间相同的匀速、减速、加速和先加后减四种进度条类型中,加速进度条的时距知觉最短,而匀速进度条时距估计最长。     

Subjective shortening with filled and unfilled auditory and visual intervals in humans?

Two experiments tested humans on a memory for duration task based on the method of Wearden and Ferrara (1993), which had previously provided evidence for subjective shortening in memory for stimulus duration. Auditory stimuli were tones (filled) or click-defined intervals (unfilled). Filled visual stimuli were either squares or lines, with the unfilled interval being the time between two line presentations. In Experiment 1, good evidence for subjective shortening was found when filled and unfilled visual stimuli, or filled auditory stimuli, were used, but evidence for subjective shortening with unfilled auditory stimuli was more ambiguous. Experiment 2 used a simplified variant of the Wearden and Ferrara task, and evidence for subjective shortening was obtained from all four stimulus types.     

数字加工任务影响时距知觉的数字效应

本研究采用复制时距和数字加工双任务,探讨数字大小影响时距知觉的机制。实验首先呈现不同时距的圆点,然后让被试按键复制圆点呈现的时距,与此同时,对屏幕上出现的数字进行命名(实验1)、奇偶数判断(实验2)、大小判断(实验3)。实验结果发现对数字进行奇偶数判断时,数字大小对时距知觉没有影响;进行数字命名和大小判断任务时,数字大小对时距知觉都产生了影响,并且时距不同,数字大小对时距知觉的影响也不同。该结果表明时距知觉的数字效应与数字加工任务和时距长短有关,呈现出动态变化的过程。     

Duration judgment and the segmentation of experience

Two experiments tested an interval segmentation explanation of duration judgment. In Experiment 1, a 170-sec time interval was filled with 27 unrelated words and three high-priority events (HPEs). These HPEs were clustered at the beginning of the interval (unsegmented condition) or distributed throughout the interval (segmented condition). Both recognition and recall of list information were measured, in addition to duration estimates. While no differences in memory performance were found, duration estimates were greater in the the segmented condition. Experiment 2 also tested the effects of interval segmentation but used 36 words and eight HPEs, a longer clock duration, and also measured the remembered number of events (RNE) in the interval. As in Experiment 1, the segmented condition produced longer duration estimates in the absence of memory performance and RNE differences. A segmentation hypothesis seems a better explanation of these results than previously proposed storage size or amount-of-processing models of duration judgment.     

The relationship between the number of presented stimuli and prospective duration estimates: The effect of concurrent task activity

The attention/distraction models of prospective time estimation predict either a negative relationship or an independence between duration estimates and the number of stimulus events presented during the time period, but not a positive relationship. Two experiments examined this relationship under prospective conditions. Lists of words were presented during a 60-sec time period at either a fast or a slow rate. Subjects either passively viewed the words or actively responded by performing either a graphemic or a semantic classification task on each word. To measure subjective duration, the method of magnitude estimation was used in Experiment 1 and the method of reproduction was used in Experiment 2. Time estimates were independent of the number of presented words in the passive viewing condition, and negatively related in the classification task conditions. Furthermore, the two classification tasks had similar effects on time estimates. These findings are consistent with the attentional models of prospective timing, and they question the robustness of earlier findings of a positive relationship between time estimates of moderately long intervals and the number of presented stimuli under conditions of minimal processing of the interval events.     

Overcoming default categorical bias in spatial memory

In the present study, we investigated whether a strong default categorical bias can be overcome in spatial memory by using alternative membership information. In three experiments, we tested location memory in a circular space while providing participants with an alternative categorization. We found that visual presentation of the boundaries of the alternative categories (Experiment 1) did not induce the use of the alternative categories in estimation. In contrast, visual cuing of the alternative category membership of a target (Experiment 2) and unique target feature information associated with each alternative category (Experiment 3) successfully led to the use of the alternative categories in estimation. Taken together, the results indicate that default categorical bias in spatial memory can be overcome when appropriate cues are provided. We discuss how these findings expand the category adjustment model (Huttenlocher, Hedges, & Duncan, 1991) in spatial memory by proposing a retrieval-based category adjustment (RCA) model.     

相似任务经验和未来时间充裕感对计划失误的影响

本研究检验了人们一种潜在的认知倾向,即低估任务的完成时间。本研究分为2个实验,从两个角度来研究人们低估任务时间的行为。实验一从不同预测方式的角度,检验了任务的相似性和认知需求因素对任务时间估计的影响。实验二从未来时间知觉的角度,检验了未来时间充裕感对任务的完成时间预测的影响。结果表明:不同的时间预测方式都会引起对任务完成/持续时间的低估;任务的相似性会利于任务时间估计的精确性;认知需求因素会和任务的相似性产生交互作用,从而影响任务完成时间的估计;未来时间充裕感的程度也会影响人们对当前任务的预测。     

Aging and judgments of duration: Effects of task complexity and method of estimation

The effects of aging on judgments of short temporal durations were explored using the prospective paradigm and the methods of verbal estimation and production. Younger and older adults performed a perceptual judgment task at five levels of complexity for periods of 30, 60, and 120 sec. Participants either continued to perform the task for a specified interval (production) or were stopped and then verbally estimated the interval. Older adults gave shorter verbal estimates and longer productions than did younger adults. The methods of verbal estimation and production yielded approximately equal duration judgment ratios once range effects were taken into account. Task complexity had little effect. The major conclusion is that duration judgment ratios decrease from younger to older adults when the intervals are filled with a mental task.     

数量对时间知觉的影响-来自抽象数量和实际数量的证据

本研究采用抽象数量和实际数量叠加的方式呈现刺激,进一步探讨数量对时间知觉的影响。两个实验都运用时间的系列比较任务,以抽象数量和实际数量这两种数量的一致和不一致为条件,将阿拉伯数字和其字体大小叠加及阿拉伯数字和其呈现个数叠加的方式系列呈现在屏幕中央,要求被试比较判断刺激呈现的时间长短。结果显示被试均依靠实际数量的大小判断时间长短,而似乎忽略了抽象数量的存在。这一结果表明实际数量对时间知觉的影响要比抽象数量大,支持并扩展了数量理论。     

Aging and judgments of duration: effects of task complexity and method of estimation.

The effects of aging on judgments of short temporal durations were explored using the prospective paradigm and the methods of verbal estimation and production. Younger and older adults performed a perceptual judgment task at five levels of complexity for periods of 30, 60, and 120 sec. Participants either continued to perform the task for a specified interval (production) or were stopped and then verbally estimated the interval. Older adults gave shorter verbal estimates and longer productions than did younger adults. The methods of verbal estimation and production yielded approximately equal duration judgment ratios once range effects were taken into account. Task complexity had little effect. The major conclusion is that duration judgment ratios decrease from younger to older adults when the intervals are filled with a mental task.     

Short-term memory for time intervals

The effect of intertrial interval, preset interval, and retention interval on the performance of rats in a time estimation task was described. On each trial a signal was presented for a duration of 2 to 8 sec. Eighteen rats were trained to press one lever (the short response) if the signal was shorter than 4 sec, and another lever (the long response) if the signal was longer than 4 sec. When trials were massed (Experiment 1), the percentage long response was affected by the classification of the previous signal, but not by its actual duration. This suggests that the animals remembered the response made on the previous trial, but not the signal duration. If a response was not permitted on the previous trial (Experiment 2), the duration or classification of the previous signal had no effect on performance. This supports the conclusion from the first experiment and suggests that an animal can reset its internal clock in less than 2 sec. In Experiment 3, the difference limen of the psychophysical function increased with the duration of the retention interval, but the point of subjective equality did not change. This suggests that resetting of the internal clock occurs on a non-time dimension.     

Prospective and retrospective time perception are related to mental time travel: Evidence from Alzheimer’s disease

Unlike prospective time perception paradigms, in which participants are aware that they have to estimate forthcoming time, little is known about retrospective time perception in normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Our paper addresses this shortcoming by comparing prospective and retrospective time estimation in younger adults, older adults, and AD patients. In four prospective tasks (lasting 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, or 120 s) participants were asked to read a series of numbers and to provide a verbal estimation of the reading time. In four other retrospective tasks, they were not informed about time judgment until they were asked to provide a verbal estimation of four elapsed time intervals (lasting 30 s, 60 s, 90 s, or 120 s). AD participants gave shorter verbal time estimations than older adults and younger participants did, suggesting that time is perceived to pass quickly in these patients. For all participants, the duration of the retrospective tasks was underestimated as compared to the prospective tasks and both estimations were shorter than the real time interval. Prospective time estimation was further correlated with mental time travel, as measured with the Remember/Know paradigm. Mental time travel was even higher correlated with retrospective time estimation. Our findings shed light on the relationship between time perception and the ability to mentally project oneself into time, two skills contributing to human memory functioning. Finally, time perception deficits, as observed in AD patients, can be interpreted in terms of dramatic changes occurring in frontal lobes and hippocampus.     

Intentional Binding is independent of the validity of the action effect's identity

When an action produces an effect, both events are perceived to be shifted in time toward each other. This shift is called Intentional Binding (IB) effect. First evidence shows that this shift does not depend on the statistical predictability of the produced effect's identity (Desantis, Hughes, & Waszak, 2012). We confirm this result by comparing the perceived duration of action–effect intervals before valid and invalid action effects using the method of constant stimuli. The perceived duration of action–effect intervals did not differ for valid and invalid effects. This result was true for different durations of the action–effect interval (Experiments 1–4: 250 ms, Experiments 1 & 2: 400 ms), different effect modalities (Experiments 1 & 3: visual, Experiments 2–4: auditive), and two types of validity variations (Experiments 1 & 2: 80% valid, Experiments 3 & 4: 100% valid vs. random). We validated our results by using a clock paradigm and a numerical duration estimation task (Experiment 4). We conclude that the IB effect is not the result of internal prediction due to action–effect bindings, but might rely on higher-order processes.     

Remembered duration: working memory and the reproduction of intervals

On the basis of attention allocation models of time estimation, the role of working memory in prospective duration reproduction is explored. In four experiments, adult participants performed a counting task (duration, 400 sec) that allowed coordinative and sequential demands on working memory to be varied. After completing the counting task, the participants reproduced the time that they had worked on this task It emerged that (1) increased coordinative demands on working memory (but not increased sequential demands) reduced the accuracy of prospective duration reproduction (Experiments 1 and 2), (2) presenting context information during the reproduction phase enhanced the accuracy of the reproduced duration (Experiment 3), and (3) individual differences in coordinative working memory capacity affected duration reproduction in the same direction as the experimental manipulation of coordinative task demands (Experiment 4). The results suggest that attention allocation models of time estimation may benefit from taking a more differentiated view of the types of attentional demands that affect temporal cognition.     

时距估计中的锚定效应

采用两种时距估计方法,检验时距锚定值对时距估计的影响,并探讨了时距信息的心理表征方式。63名在校大学生参加了本次实验。实验1采用口头报告法,表明较大的时距锚定值（5s,5000ms）条件下,被试估对时距的估计值较大,而较小时距锚定值（1s,1000ms）条件下被试估计的时距值较小;语义相同但表述方式不同的锚定值（1s与1000ms,5s与5000ms）条件下的时距估计值没有显著差异。实验2采用产生法,进一步表明时距表述方式对产生时距没有显著影响。以上结果表明,时距估计受时距锚定值的影响,时距信息可能以语义形式进行表征,而不是简单的数字加单位的表层表征形式     

Effects of feedback and calibration on the verbal estimation of the duration of tones

Two experiments investigated the effects of feedback (Experiment 1) and calibration (Experiment 2) on verbal estimation of the duration of tones ranging from 77 to 1183 ms in length. In Experiment 1, accurate feedback was provided after half the trials in the feedback condition, and this was contrasted with a no-feedback condition in which feedback was absent. In Experiment 2, in the calibration condition, participants estimated the duration of the second of two tones, after a first tone of a known duration (ranging from 50 to 1200 ms) had been presented. In the no calibration condition the value of the first tone was unknown. Compared with conditions without feedback or calibration, the feedback/calibration operation produced no significant change in group mean estimates, nor coefficients of variation of estimates, but the absolute deviation of estimates from the real stimulus duration, and the absolute deviation of individual estimates from the group mean, were both significantly reduced. The feedback/calibration thus made participants' mean estimates thus more accurate and more similar to one another, but the actual mechanism by which this was done was apparently a subtle process of adjustment, rather than a gross change in mean estimate or estimate variability.