Time perception and time perspective differences between adolescents and adults

The present experiment aimed to investigate the differences in time perception and time perspective between subjects representing two developmental stages, namely adolescence and middle adulthood. Twenty Chinese adolescents aged 15–25 and twenty Chinese adults aged 35–55 participated in the study. A time discrimination task and a time reproduction task were implemented to measure the accuracy of their time perception. The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (Short-Form) was adopted to assess their time orientation. It was found that adolescents performed better than adults in both the time discrimination task and the time reproduction task. Adolescents were able to differentiate different time intervals with greater accuracy and reproduce the target duration more precisely. For the time reproduction task, it was also found that adults tended to overestimate the duration of the target stimuli while adolescents were more likely to underestimate it. As regards time perspective, adults were more future-oriented than adolescents, whereas adolescents were more present-oriented than adults. No significant relationship was found between time perspective and time perception.     

Judgement of discrete and continuous quantity in adults: Number counts!

Three experiments involving a Stroop-like paradigm were conducted. In Experiment 1, adults received a number comparison task in which large sets of dots, orthogonally varying along a discrete dimension (number of dots) and a continuous dimension (cumulative area), were presented. Incongruent trials were processed more slowly and with less accuracy than congruent trials, suggesting that continuous dimensions such as cumulative area are automatically processed and integrated during a discrete quantity judgement task. Experiment 2, in which adults were asked to perform area comparison on the same stimuli, revealed the reciprocal interference from number on the continuous quantity judgements. Experiment 3, in which participants received both the number and area comparison tasks, confirmed the results of Experiments 1 and 2. Contrasting with earlier statements, the results support the view that number acts as a more salient cue than continuous dimensions in adults. Furthermore, the individual predisposition to automatically access approximate number representations was found to correlate significantly with adults' exact arithmetical skills.     

Time,number and length: Similarities and differences in discrimination in adults and children

The aim of this study was to focus on similarities in the discrimination of three different quantities—time, number, and line length—using a bisection task involving children aged 5 and 8 years and adults, when number and length were presented nonsequentially (Experiment 1) and sequentially (Experiment 2). In the nonsequential condition, for all age groups, although to a greater extent in the younger children, the psychophysical functions were flatter, and the Weber ratio higher for time than for number and length. Number and length yielded similar psychophysical functions. Thus, sensitivity to time was lower than that to the other quantities, whether continuous or not. However, when number and length were presented sequentially (Experiment 2), the differences in discrimination performance between time, number, and length disappeared. Furthermore, the Weber ratio values as well as the bisection points for all quantities presented sequentially appeared to be close to that found for duration in the nonsequential condition. The results are discussed within the framework of recent theories suggesting a common mechanism for all analogical quantities.     

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.     

Automatic quantity processing in 5-year olds and adults

In this study adults performed numerical and physical size judgments on a symbolic (Arabic numerals) and non-symbolic (groups of dots) size congruity task. The outcomes would reveal whether a size congruity effect (SCE) can be obtained irrespective of notation. Subsequently, 5-year-old children performed a physical size judgment on both tasks. The outcomes will give a better insight in the ability of 5-year-olds to automatically process symbolic and non-symbolic numerosities. Adult performance on the symbolic and non-symbolic size congruity tasks revealed a SCE for numerical and physical size judgments, indicating that the non-symbolic size congruity task is a valid indicator for automatic processing of non-symbolic numerosities. Physical size judgments on both tasks by children revealed a SCE only for non-symbolic notation, indicating that the lack of a symbolic SCE is not related to the mathematical or cognitive abilities required for the task but instead to an immature association between the number symbol and its meaning.     

9~10岁儿童和成人的一致性序列效应

一致性序列效应是指个体根据前一情境中的冲突信息, 灵活适应当前环境的能力。研究选取9~10岁的儿童和18~25岁的成人为被试, 采用色-词Stroop任务和Stroop与Flanker刺激混合的任务, 在控制重复启动的影响后, 考察一致性序列效应在不同任务中的年龄差异。结果发现, 在不同的任务中, 儿童和成人均表现出显著的一致性序列效应, 且一致性序列效应的大小不存在显著差异。研究结果表明, 冲突适应过程涉及更高级的加工过程, 9~10岁的儿童已具备类似成人的、更一般化的冲突适应能力。     

Time course of attentional bias for fear-relevant pictures in spider-fearful individuals

The time course of attentional biases for spider stimuli was assessed in two groups of individuals with high or low levels of spider fear. Pairs of photographs of spiders and cats were presented in a visual probe task with three exposure durations: 200, 500 and 2000 ms. Results indicated greater attentional bias for spider stimuli in high fear, than in low fear, individuals in the 200 ms condition. The attentional bias in the high fear group significantly reduced as stimulus exposure duration increased, with no significant biases found in the longer exposure conditions. Results support the view that high fear is associated with an enhanced initial attentional bias for fear-relevant stimuli, but that this attentional bias is not maintained over time.     

Time and number discrimination in a bisection task with a sequence of stimuli: a developmental approach

Children, aged 5 and 8 years, and adults were tested in a bisection task with a sequence of stimuli in which time and number co-varied. In a counting and a non-counting condition, they were instructed either to process the duration of this sequence while ignoring the number of stimuli (temporal bisection), or to process the number of stimuli while ignoring the duration (numerical bisection). In the temporal bisection task, number interfered with the 5-year-olds' temporal performance, indicating that young children did not process time and number independently in a sequence of stimuli when they had to attend to duration. However, number interference decreased both with age and counting strategy. In contrast, in the numerical bisection task, duration did not interfere with numerical discrimination for any age group.     

Response inhibition and avoidance of virtual obstacles during gait in healthy young and older adults

Adjustments of preplanned steps are essential for fall avoidance and require response inhibition. Still, inhibition is rarely tested under conditions resembling daily living. We evaluated the ability of young and older adults to modify ongoing walking movements using a novel precision step inhibition (PSI) task combined with an auditory Stroop task.Healthy young (YA, n = 12) and older (OA, n = 12) adults performed the PSI task at 4 individualized difficulty levels, as a single and dual task (DT). Subjects walked on a treadmill by stepping on virtual stepping stones, unless these changed color during approach, forcing the subjects to avoid them. OA made more failures (40%) on the PSI task than YA (16%), but DT did not affect their performance. In combination with increased rates of omitted Stroop task responses, this indicates a “posture first” strategy. Yet, adding obstacles to the PSI task significantly deteriorated Stroop performance in both groups (the average Stroop composite score decreased by 13% in YA and 27% in OA). Largest deficit of OA was observed in rates of incorrect responses to incongruent Stroop stimuli (OA 35% and YA 12%), which require response inhibition. We concluded that the performance of OA suffered specifically when response inhibition was required.     

The role of numerical and non-numerical cues in nonsymbolic number processing: Evidence from the line bisection task

In line bisection tasks, adults and children bisect towards the numerically larger of two nonsymbolic numerosities [de Hevia, M. D., & Spelke, E. S. (2009 de Hevia, M. D., & Spelke, E. S. (2009). Spontaneous mapping of number and space in adults and young children. Cognition, 110, 198–207. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.11.003[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Spontaneous mapping of number and space in adults and young children. Cognition, 110, 198–207. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.11.003]. However, it is not clear whether this effect is driven by number itself or rather by visual cues such as subtended area [Gebuis, T., & Gevers, W. (2011 Gebuis, T., & Gevers, W. (2011). Numerosities and space: Indeed a cognitive illusion! A reply to de Hevia and Spelke (2009). Cognition, 121, 248–252. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.09.008[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Numbers and space: Indeed a cognitive illusion! A reply to de Hevia and Spelke (2009 de Hevia, M. D., & Spelke, E. S. (2009). Spontaneous mapping of number and space in adults and young children. Cognition, 110, 198–207. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.11.003[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Cognition, 121, 248–252. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.09.008]. Furthermore, this effect has only been demonstrated with flanking displays of two and nine items. Here, we report three studies that examined whether this “spatial bias” effect occurs across a range of absolute and ratio numerosity differences; in particular, we examined whether the bias would occur when both flankers were outside the subitizing range. Additionally, we manipulated the subtended area of the stimulus and the aggregate surface area to assess the influence of visual cues. We found that the spatial bias effect occurred for a range of flanking numerosities and for ratios of 3:5 and 5:6 when subtended area was not controlled (Experiment 1). However, when subtended area and aggregate surface area were held constant, the biasing effect was reversed such that participants bisected towards the flanker with fewer items (Experiment 2). Moreover, when flankers were identical, participants bisected towards the flanker with larger subtended area or larger aggregate surface area (Experiments 2 and 3). On the basis of these studies, we conclude that the spatial bias effect for nonsymbolic numerosities is primarily driven by visual cues.     

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。     

Musicians outperform nonmusicians in magnitude estimation: Evidence of a common processing mechanism for time,space and numbers

It has been proposed that time, space, and numbers may be computed by a common magnitude system. Even though several behavioural and neuroanatomical studies have focused on this topic, the debate is still open. To date, nobody has used the individual differences for one of these domains to investigate the existence of a shared cognitive system. Musicians are known to outperform nonmusicians in temporal discrimination tasks. We therefore observed professional musicians and nonmusicians undertaking three different tasks: temporal (participants were required to estimate which of two tones lasted longer), spatial (which line was longer), and numerical discrimination (which group of dots was more numerous). If time, space, and numbers are processed by the same mechanism, it is expected that musicians will have a greater ability, even in nontemporal dimensions. As expected, musicians were more accurate with regard to temporal discrimination. They also gave better performances in both the spatial and the numerical tasks, but only outside the subitizing range. Our data are in accordance with the existence of a common magnitude system. We suggest, however, that this mechanism may not involve the whole numerical range.     

Loudness counts: Interactions between loudness,number magnitude,and space

ATOM (a theory of magnitude) suggests that magnitude information of different formats (numbers, space, and time) is processed within a generalized magnitude network. In this study we investigated whether loudness, as a possible indicator of intensity and magnitude, interacts with the processing of numbers. Small and large numbers, spoken in a quiet and a loud voice, were simultaneously presented to the left and right ear (Experiments 1a and 1b). Participants judged whether the number presented to the left or right ear was louder or larger. Responses were faster when the smaller number was spoken in a quiet voice, and the larger number in a loud voice. Thus, task-irrelevant numerical information influenced the processing of loudness and vice versa. This bi-directional link was also confirmed by classical SNARC paradigms (spatial–numerical association of response codes; Experiments 2a–2c) when participants again judged the magnitude or loudness of separately presented stimuli. In contrast, no loudness–number association was found in a parity judgment task. Regular SNARC effects were found in the magnitude and parity judgment task, but not in the loudness judgment task. Instead, in the latter task, response side was associated with loudness. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.     

Time counts: future time perspective, goals, and social relationships

On the basis of postulates derived from socioemotional selectivity theory, the authors explored the extent to which future time perspective (FTP) is related to social motivation, and to the composition and perceived quality of personal networks. Four hundred eighty German participants with ages ranging from 20 to 90 years took part in the study. In 2 card-sort tasks, participants indicated their partner preference and goal priority. Participants also completed questionnaires on personal networks and social satisfaction. Older people, as a group, perceived their future time as more limited than younger people. Individuals who perceived future time as being limited prioritized emotionally meaningful goals (e.g., generativity, emotion regulation), whereas individuals who perceived their futures as open-ended prioritized instrumental or knowledge-related goals. Priority of goal domains was found to be differently associated with the size, composition, and perceived quality of personal networks depending on FTP. Prioritizing emotion-regulatory goals was associated with greater social satisfaction and less perceived strain with others when participants perceived their future as limited. Findings underscore the importance of FTP in the self-regulation of social relationships and the subjective experience associated with them.     

Attention,spatial integration,and the tail of response time distributions in Stroop task performance

A few studies have examined selective attention in Stroop task performance through ex-Gaussian analyses of response time (RT) distributions. It has remained unclear whether the tail of the RT distribution in vocal responding reflects spatial integration of relevant and irrelevant attributes, as suggested by Spieler, Balota, and Faust (2000 Spieler, D. H., Balota, D. A. and Faust, M. E. 2000. Levels of selective attention revealed through analyses of reaction time distributions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26: 506–526. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Here, two colour–word Stroop experiments with vocal responding are reported in which the spatial relation between colour and word was manipulated. Participants named colours (e.g., green; say “green”) while trying to ignore distractors that were incongruent or congruent words (e.g., red or green), or neutral series of Xs. The vocal RT was measured. Colour words in colour, white words superimposed onto colour rectangles (Experiment 1), and colour rectangles combined with auditory words (Experiment 2) yielded Stroop effects in both the leading edge and the tail of the RT distributions. These results indicate that spatial integration is not necessary for effects in the tail to occur in vocal responding. It is argued that the findings are compatible with an association of the tail effects with task conflict.     

The interaction between schizotypy and latent inhibition: modulation by experimental parameters

Two recent experiments (Della Casa et al., in press) yielded the typical reduced latent inhibition (LI) in high vs low schizotypy subjects after a slow, irregularly presented masking task (Stroop task), and reduced LI in low vs high schizotypy subjects after a fast, regularly presented masking task. The present experiment was aimed at testing whether speed or regularity was responsible for the different results. The present slow, regular experiment replicated the results of the former slow, irregular experiment, i.e. reduced LI in high schizotypals and significant LI in low schizotypals, indicating that speed and not regularity is the critical experimental variable. The modulation of the schizotypy—latent inhibition relationship can be attributed to differences in attentional resources or the time available to process the to-be-target stimuli during preexposure, in accordance with the hypothesis of Lubow and Gewirtz, 1995 that automatic processing of these stimuli is critical for the development of latent inhibition in adult humans. In addition, results on Stroop and negative priming effects are presented.     

Time in the mind: using space to think about time

How do we construct abstract ideas like justice, mathematics, or time-travel? In this paper we investigate whether mental representations that result from physical experience underlie people's more abstract mental representations, using the domains of space and time as a testbed. People often talk about time using spatial language (e.g., a long vacation, a short concert). Do people also think about time using spatial representations, even when they are not using language? Results of six psychophysical experiments revealed that people are unable to ignore irrelevant spatial information when making judgments about duration, but not the converse. This pattern, which is predicted by the asymmetry between space and time in linguistic metaphors, was demonstrated here in tasks that do not involve any linguistic stimuli or responses. These findings provide evidence that the metaphorical relationship between space and time observed in language also exists in our more basic representations of distance and duration. Results suggest that our mental representations of things we can never see or touch may be built, in part, out of representations of physical experiences in perception and motor action.     

Short-term memory for time in children and adults: A behavioral study and a model

This experiment investigated the effect of the short-term retention of duration on temporal discrimination in 5- and 8-year-olds, as well as in adults, by using an episodic temporal generalization task. In each age group, the participants' task was to compare two successive durations (a standard and a comparison duration) separated by a retention interval of 500ms, 5s, or 10s, with the order of presentation of these two durations being counterbalanced. The results revealed a shortening effect for the first presented stimulus in all of the age groups, although this was greater in the younger children, thereby indicating the presence of a negative time-order error. Furthermore, introducing a retention delay between the two durations did not produce a shortening effect but instead flattened the generalization gradient, especially in the younger children. However, this flattening of the generalization gradient with the retention delay was more marked between 500ms and 5s than between 5s and 10s. Thus, retaining the first duration in short-term memory during a task requiring the comparison of two successive durations reduced temporal discrimination accuracy and did so to a greater extent in the younger children.     

Time perception in response to ashamed faces in children and adults

The present study investigated the effect of the perception of faces expressing shame on time perception in children aged 5 and 8 years, as well as in adults, as a function of their ability to recognize this emotional expression. The participants' ability to recognize the expression of shame among faces expressing different emotions was tested. They were then asked to perform a temporal bisection task involving both neutral and ashamed faces. The results showed that, from the age of 8 years, the participants who recognized the facial expressions of shame underestimated their presentation time compared to that of neutral faces. In contrast, no time distortion was observed in the children who did not recognize the ashamed faces or in those younger children who did recognize them. The results are discussed in terms of self-conscious emotions which develop to involve an attentional mechanism.     

The time course effect of moderate intensity exercise on response execution and response inhibition

This research aimed to investigate the time course effect of a moderate steady-state exercise session on response execution and response inhibition using a stop-task paradigm. Ten participants performed a stop-signal task whilst cycling at a carefully controlled workload intensity (40% of maximal aerobic power), immediately following exercise and 30 min after exercise cessation. Results showed that moderate exercise enhances a subjects’ ability to execute responses under time pressure (shorter Go reaction time, RT without a change in accuracy) but also enhances a subjects’ ability to withhold ongoing motor responses (shorter stop-signal RT). The present outcomes reveal that the beneficial effect of exercise is neither limited to motor response tasks, nor to cognitive tasks performed during exercise. Beneficial effects of exercise remain present on both response execution and response inhibition performance for up to 52 min after exercise cessation.