The lengthening effect in sequential estimations of a short interval

Summary Experiments were carried out on the lengthening effect in sequential time estimations. It appeared that lengthening only occurred in the case of intuitive evaluation of an interval. Autocorrelation functions revealed that the estimation process may be described as a series of compensatory actions with respect to the last trial. It was assumed that the last estimate is more or less always experienced as too long or too short. In the resulting correction process the positive corrections reach higher mean values than the negative ones since the upper limit of the interval is not defined. In view of the negative autocorrelation in the last trial it was postulated that the correction process is not random, but is related to sequential response bias, i.e. too many alternations. Subsequently, several presentation and estimation modes were compared. The possibility that lengthening might result from trace decay of the standard stored in memory was doubtful since the phenomenon was also observed in the case of pure production on the basis of verbal instructions only. Apparently, it makes no difference whether a standard is presented or not. The distribution of the time estimates under various conditions revealed that the subject becomes more uncertain in proportion as the amount of external reference given increases, so that estimation process variables seem to be of greater importance than stimulus factors (standard presentation). It was assumed that the temporal memory could be described as a register in which only one event (the last) remains available and forms the subject's frame of reference. Since lengthening appeared to be connected with several cognitive variables of a general nature it was postulated that the effect is not only inherent in time estimation, but may be considered as a phenomenon occurring in repeated estimations of various stimuli as well. This assumption appeared to be correct, as analogous effects were observed in the case of repeated line drawing. It was shown that the increase of the time estimates could be influenced significantly by introducing different risk levels, i.e. the degree of lengthening is a function of the subject's decision criterion. Furthermore, there was some correlation between the compensatory actions and sequential response bias in a randomization task. It is concluded that the lengthening effect does not only show a general character, but that it might be described and explained adequately within the framework of the cognitive theory of time experience in which memory mechanisms, decision theory, and sequential response bias play a significant role.     

Temporal interval production and processing in working memory

Short-term memory or working memory has been proposed as a cognitive structure contributing to time estimation. Thus, in a previous experiment, retrieving a stored item during a temporalinterval production lengthened the interval in proportion to the number of items in the memory set. In the present study, this issue was analyzed further by testing whether the proportional lengthening is induced by the load itself (i.e., the number of items) or by comparing the probe with memorized items. In a first experiment, a memory set was maintained during a temporal production, and the comparison of the probe with memorized items was postponed until the end of time production. Varying the number of items in the memory set had no effect on temporal intervals produced during its retention, suggesting that mental comparison was the source of the lengthening of time intervals. In succeeding experiments, tasks requiring processing in working memory but involving no memory load were combined with temporal production. In Experiment 2, increasing the number of syllables in a rhyme-judgment task proportionally lengthened temporal intervals that were produced simultaneously. In Experiment 3, increasing the amount of mental rotation in a task involving visuospatial processing also lengthened simultaneous temporal production. This interference between processing in working memory and time estimation suggests that working memory, defined as a work space for active processing of current information, contributes to time estimation.     

The internal clock: Electroencephalographic evidence for oscillatory processes underlying time perception

It has been proposed that temporal perception and performance depend on a biological source of temporal information. A model for a temporal oscillator put forward by Treisman, Faulkner, Naish, and Brogan (1990) predicted that if intense sensory pulses (such as auditory clicks) were presented to subjects at suitable rates they would perturb the frequency at which the temporal oscillator runs and so cause over- or underestimation of time. The resulting pattern of interference between sensory pulse rates and time judgments would depend on the frequency of the temporal oscillator and so might allow that frequency to be estimated. Such interference patterns were found using auditory clicks and visual flicker (Treisman & Brogan, 1992; Treisman et al., 1990). The present study examines time estimation together with the simultaneously recorded electroencephalogram to examine whether evidence of such an interference pattern can be found in the EEG.

Alternative models for the organization of a temporal system consisting of an oscillator or multiple oscillators are considered and predictions derived from them relating to the EEG. An experiment was run in which time intervals were presented for estimation, auditory clicks being given during those intervals, and the EEG was recorded concurrently. Analyses of the EEG revealed interactions between auditory click rates and certain EEG components which parallel the interference patterns previously found. The overall pattern of EEG results is interpreted as favouring a model for the organization of the temporal system in which sets of click-sensitive oscillators spaced at intervals of about 12.8 Hz contribute to the EEG spectrum. These are taken to represent a series of harmonically spaced distributions of oscillators involved in time-keeping.     

Expecting a break in time estimation: attentional time-sharing without concurrent processing

The interference from nontemporal processing on concurrent time estimation is usually attributed to disruption in timing caused by attentional requirements of nontemporal processing. Here, we examined interruption in timing without concurrent nontemporal processing. Empty breaks of various durations, during time-interval production, lengthened produced intervals. Moreover, an effect of break location was observed: Intervals lengthened proportionally to prebreak duration. When cued and uncued uninterrupted trials were introduced, the lengthening was proportional to the duration for which a break was expected. It was concluded that attentional time-sharing between time estimation and expectation of its interruption contributed to the interference effect in time-estimation research, independently of any concurrent processing requirements during time estimation.     

右侧背外侧前额叶皮质在时间知觉中的作用:基于经颅磁刺激的研究

将10 Hz的重复经颅磁刺激(r TMS)施加于右背外侧前额叶皮质(r DLPFC),探讨该区域在时间加工模型中的作用。实验一采用时间复制任务,通过比较基线和后测条件下时间估计行为的差异,探究高频r TMS离线施加于r DLPFC之后对时间知觉的影响。实验二采用毫秒和秒两种范围的时距,探究r DLPFC在不同范围的时间知觉中的作用。结果发现r TMS施加于r DLPFC导致对1.5 s高估,对600 ms的估计无显著影响,提示r DLPFC在涉及工作记忆加工过程的秒范围的时间知觉中有重要作用。     

Lengthening fixed preparatory foreperiod durations within a digit magnitude classification task serves mainly to shift distributions of response times upwards

In this study, the effect of lengthening foreperiod duration (i.e. the time between the presentation of a warning signal and a subsequent target stimulus) on choice RTs is examined. The foreperiod durations used were either 2 or 8 s and were fixed within pure blocks of trials. The task was to determine whether a single-digit target stimulus was either smaller or larger than 5 and responses were provided manually. An additive relation between foreperiod duration length and numerical distance from 5 was present in the mean RTs. Subsequent ex-Gaussian analyses of the shapes of the RT distributions indicated that they become shifted upwards as the foreperiod increased with relatively smaller increases in the sizes of their tails. It is argued mainly that the latter finding is incompatible with the strategic time estimation view of the fixed foreperiod duration effect.     

奖赏历史对自上而下注意控制的调节：促进还是干扰？

奖赏能够影响注意控制,但是关于奖赏历史对注意控制的影响还处于争论之中。本研究以大学生为被试,采用点探测范式,操作了奖赏历史和奖赏额度,考察了奖赏历史对自上而下注意控制的调节作用。实验一结果发现,有奖赏-无奖赏条件下前后阶段反应时无显著差异,无奖赏-有奖赏条件下有奖赏阶段的反应时显著短于无奖赏阶段。实验二操作了奖赏额度,结果与实验一一致。整个研究表明,奖赏历史促进自上而下注意控制,先前奖赏对随后自上而下注意控制产生持续促进效应。     

Time Perspective: Temporal Extension,Time Estimation,and Impulsivity

It has been proposed that time perspective is an important variable that can, in part, explain the differences between people in terms of the development of self-control. One corollary of this position is that time perspective is somehow related to systematic biases in the way people perceive the passage of time. Such a bias may or may not be augmented by an association between time perspective and impulsivity. Two studies were conducted using measures of temporal extension, time estimation, and impulsivity. In general, no consistent effects were found. Neither time perspective nor impulsivity was related to any characteristic pattern of errors. In the second study, time perspective (mediated by age) was associated with predicting very brief time estimation scores, but not longer time estimation periods. It was concluded that whatever the mechanism might be that underlies the purported effect between time perspective and self-control, it is not related to a differential ability to perceive time moving more or less quickly.     

On measuring the minimum detection time: A simple reaction time study in the time estimation paradigm

Kornblum's time estimation paradigm, together with the so‐called ‘race model’, provides an appealing alternative for measuring the ‘cut‐off’ which separates ‘true’ reaction times from anticipatory reaction times. However, the model is not precise enough to reveal the relation between the signal intensity and the ‘cut‐off’. Accordingly, Kornblum's model is extended with an emphasis on the measure of the ‘cut‐off’. Another aspect of the extension is to use a parametric method to analyse the data. In particular, it is assumed that the time estimation‐induced latency is gamma distributed and the signal‐induced latency is Weibull distributed, with the latter shifted by the ‘cut‐off’. The rationale behind the parametric assumption is discussed. For illustrative purposes, two pieces of experimental work are presented. Since the core of the race model is the assumption of an independent race between the time estimation process and the detection process, the first experiment tests whether, for the same signal intensity, the signal‐induced latency distribution is invariant across different time intervals; the second experiment tests whether, for the same time interval, the time estimation‐induced latency distribution is invariant across different signal intensity conditions. The data from the second experiment are also used to test various parametric assumptions in the model, which include the signal effect on the ‘cut‐off’. The new model fits the data well.     

Effects of sound-marker durations on rhythm perception

Our aim in this study was to examine the influence of sound-marker durations on the perception of simple rhythm patterns. These comprised three successive sounds marking two neighbouring time intervals, T1 and T2, with their onsets. We varied the durations of each of the three sound markers to make them either 20 or 60 ms. Durations of T1 and T2 were also varied, but the total duration of T1 and T2 was fixed at either 240 or 480 ms. In experiment 1, participants compared the durations of T1 and T2. In experiment 2, the subjective duration of each interval was measured separately. We found that lengthening the duration of the sound marker which terminated an interval increased the subjective duration of that interval: lengthening the duration of the second marker increased the subjective duration of T1, and lengthening the duration of the third marker increased the subjective duration of T2. Lengthening the duration of the first marker increased the subjective duration of T1 when T1 + T2 = 240 ms, especially when T1 > T2. This effect of first-marker duration, which could not be observed with single intervals used in the control conditions, seemed to enhance the contrast between T1 and T2. The effects of marker durations are associated with previous time-perception studies, in which single time intervals were used. They are discussed in the context of rhythm-perception studies, in which more complex sound patterns have been used.     

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。     

The role of the frontal lobes in the regulation of cognitive development.

Between the ages of 1.5 and 5 years, and again between the ages of 5 and 10 years, a sequence of changes takes place in children's behavior which indicates a fundamental reorganization of their attentional, executive, and self-reflexive processes. In the present article, these changes are summarized, and evidence is adduced to support the claims (1) that these changes are frontally mediated and (2) that the underlying mechanism that generates them is similar to the one that generates the changes in EEG coherence during the same time period. The psychological model that has been hypothesized to explain the cycles of cognitive development (Case, 1992) is then compared to the physiological model that has been proposed to explain cycles of EEG development (Thatcher, 1992). It is shown that the two models are complementary, both in the underlying developmental sequence that they postulate and in the recursive dynamic they propose for producing movement through this sequence. A number of implications and predictions are derived, which follow from the proposition that the two sets of changes are different manifestations of a common underlying process.     

MIRT模型中多维能力及其相关矩阵估计的影响因素

多维项目反应理论因其模型本身的天然优势及其兼具因素分析与项目反应理论于一身的优点,而被广大研究者及应用者所重视.本研究在前人研究基础上,重点讨论MIRT多维能力及能力间相关矩阵的参数估计问题.研究采用Monte Carlo模拟方法进行,在三因素完全随机设计（4 ×3×3）下,使用MCMC算法,探讨测验维度数、维度间的相关大小和测验项目数三个因素对MIRT能力及其相关矩阵估计的影响.     

对变化/分割模型的检验(Ⅱ)

在前一报告的基础上设计了两个实验,对变化／分割模型做进一步的检验。实验3控制目标时距和该时距内的填充数字系列的分割段数以及段的持续时间,操纵段内的项目数;结果显示,数字系列的分割段数明显影响延迟操作条件下的时距估计,而段内的项目数则不影响对时距的估计。实验4控制目标时距和该时距内填充数字系列的分割段数以及段内的项目数,操纵段的持续时间;结果显示,对时距的估计取决于被试所使用的时间标尺。四个实验结果表明,变化／分割模型只有较高的预测效度,但也有不足之处。为了更好地从认知的观点解释时距估计的影响因素,作者对已提出的分段综合模型做了进一步的论证,并认为分段综合模型是一个能较完整解释影响人类时距估计的各种因素的理论模型。     

Some effects of later-occurring information on the perception of stop consonant and semivowel

In three experiments, we determined how perception of the syllable-initial distinction between the stop consonant [b] and the semivowel [w], when cued by duration of formant transitions, is affected by parts of the sound pattern that occur later in time. For the first experiment, we constructed four series of syllables, similar in that each had initial formant transitions ranging from one short enough for [ba] to one long enough for [wa], hut different in overall syllable duration. The consequence in perception was that, as syllable duration increased, the [b-w] boundary moved toward transitions of longer duration. Then, in the second experiment, we increased the duration of the sound by adding a second syllable, [da], (thus creating [bada-wada]), and observed that lengthening the second syllable also shifted the perceived [b-w] boundary in the first syllable toward transitions of longer duration; however, this effect was small by comparison with that produced when the first syllable was lengthened equivalently. In the third experiment, we found that altering the structure of the syllable had an effect that is not to be accounted for by the concomitant change in syllable duration: lengthening the syllable by adding syllable-final transitions appropriate for the stop consonant [d] (thus creating [bad-wad]) caused the perceived [b-w] boundary to shift toward transitions of shorter duration, an effect precisely opposite to that produced when the syllable was lengthened to the same extent by adding steady-state vowel. We suggest that, in all these cases, the later-occurring information specifies rate of articulation and that the effect on the earlier-occurring cue reflects an appropriate perceptual normalization.     

The influence of incongruity and preexposure on the familiarity effect in visual selection of children

A consistent finding in the literature concerning visual selection is that Ss will spend more time viewing unfamiliar stimuli than stimuli with which they have been familiarized. In the present experiment, the relationship between the magnitude of this familiarity effect and the level of stimulus incongruity was examined and found to be monotonic and increasing. In addition, amount of stimulus preexposure had no significant effect on the magnitude of the familiarity effect. Furthermore, there was no overall difference in Ss' preference for familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. Results are interpreted as supporting a theory of visual selection based on information-conflict resolution.     

The effect of set size on the latency to name words

The experiment attempted to determine whether or not Ss' verbal reaction time to name words was influenced by the number of possible word stimuli in a set. It was suggested that a discrepancy between the results of previous investigators was an artefact of the manner in which some of the data had been analysed. The results of the experiment indicate that set size does have a small but significant effect on reaction time to this task.     

眼动与脑电同步记录技术在心理语言学研究中的新进展

传统的心理语言学研究手段存在一定的弊端,眼动和脑电同步记录技术具有高时间和高空间分辨率的特性,能够在自然阅读情境下探讨人在阅读中认知加工的时间进程及其相应的神经机制。本文在阐述眼动与脑电同步记录的必要性和方法的基础上,较为全面地介绍了近10年来同步记录技术在心理语言学研究中的新进展,并对该技术的应用前景进行了展望,以期对国内从事心理语言学领域的研究者有一定的启示。     

A model of the formation of illusory conjunctions in the time domain.

The authors present a model to account for the miscombination of features when stimuli are presented using the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) technique (illusory conjunctions in the time domain). It explains the distributions of responses through a mixture of trial outcomes. In some trials, attention is successfully focused on the target, whereas in others, the responses are based on partial information. Two experiments are presented that manipulated the mean processing time of the target-defining dimension and of the to-be-reported dimension, respectively. As predicted, the average origin of the responses is delayed when lengthening the target-defining dimension, whereas it is earlier when lengthening the to-be-reported dimension; in the first case the number of correct responses is dramatically reduced, whereas in the second it does not change. The results, a review of other research, and simulations carried out with a formal version of the model are all in close accordance with the predictions.     

Cross-linguistic differences in the use of durational cues for the segmentation of a novel language

It is widely accepted that duration can be exploited as phonological phrase final lengthening in the segmentation of a novel language, i.e., in extracting discrete constituents from continuous speech. The use of final lengthening for segmentation and its facilitatory effect has been claimed to be universal. However, lengthening in the world languages can also mark lexically stressed syllables. Stress-induced lengthening can potentially be in conflict with right edge phonological phrase boundary lengthening. Thus the processing of durational cues in segmentation can be dependent on the listener’s linguistic background, e.g., on the specific correlates and unmarked location of lexical stress in the native language of the listener. We tested this prediction and found that segmentation by both German and Basque speakers is facilitated when lengthening is aligned with the word final syllable and is not affected by lengthening on either the penultimate or the antepenultimate syllables. Lengthening of the word final syllable, however, does not help Italian and Spanish speakers to segment continuous speech, and lengthening of the antepenultimate syllable impedes their performance. We have also found a facilitatory effect of penultimate lengthening on segmentation by Italians. These results confirm our hypothesis that processing of lengthening cues is not universal, and interpretation of lengthening as a phonological phrase final boundary marker in a novel language of exposure can be overridden by the phonology of lexical stress in the native language of the listener.