The Experience of the Passage of Time

This paper explains the phenomena that compose the experience of the passage of time and argues that this experience represents the temporal direction of causal processes. The experience of the passage of time comprises several more specific experiences, namely: (1) the experience of continuously advancing to later times; (2) the observation of continuous change, both in the things around us and in ourselves; (3) the feeling of a lack of control over (1) and (2); and (4) the experience of a number of phenomena that we describe as animated, dynamic, or flowing. The experience of passage is a causal process whose function is to promote survival and reproductive success by representing the temporal direction of causal processes (including itself). It does this primarily via the specious present, wherein later content is presented as more vivid than earlier content. The experience of passage is veridical and is compatible with either the B‐theory or the A‐theoretic views of time.     

Physicians' Reports of Self-Injury Cases among Their Patients Not Seen in the Hospital*

ABSTRACT: A 12-month study was completed in London, Ontario, Canada, of physician contacts with 232 patients with nonhospitalized self-injuries. Of 254 physicians contacted, 17 percent accounted for the reports of the 232 patients—83 percent of the physicians reporting zero cases. Reasons for underreporting by physicians of nonhospitalized self-injuries, as well as reasons for cases of self-injury being differentially distributed among different kinds of physicians, are explored. The notion of “self-injury” is examined, and some practical implications are discussed.     

The Causal Efficiency of the Passage of Time

Does mere passage of time have causal powers? Are properties like ??being n days past?? causally efficient? A pervasive intuition among metaphysicians seems to be that they don??t. Events and/or objects change, and they cause or are caused by other events and/or objects; but one does not see how just the mere passage of time could cause any difference in the world. In this paper, I shall discuss a case where it seems that mere passage of time does have causal powers: Sydney Shoemaker??s (1969) possible world where temporal vacua (allegedly) take place. I shall argue that Shoemaker??s thought-experiment doesn??t really aim at teaching us that there can be time without change, but rather that if such a scenario is plausible at all (as I think it is) it provides us with good reasons to think that mere passage of time can be directly causally efficient.     

Time Perception in Alcoholics and other Psychiatric Patients

A battery of time perception tests evaluating the areas of filled time estimation, empty time estimation, time in abstract reasoning and short interval comparisons was administered to 30 alcoholic inpatients, 24 general psychiatric inpatients, and 17 normal controls. The tests of abstract reasoning and estimates of unfilled intervals discriminated between the alcoholic and general psychiatric group on the one hand, and the controls on the other. No significant differences between alcoholic and general psychiatric patients were found.     

情绪对时间知觉的影响

研究了情绪唤醒度和愉悦度对时间知觉的影响及其机制.以53名大学生为被试,采用中国情绪图片系统为情绪诱发材料,使用时间两分法和泛化法考察唤醒和注意机制对时间知觉的影响.结果表明:在短时距下,(1)唤醒度和愉悦度对时间知觉的影响可能是独立的,两个实验中交互作用都不显著;(2)情绪主要通过唤醒机制影响时间知觉,被试在高唤醒情绪下知觉到的时间显著长于在低唤醒情绪下知觉到的时间.     

时距知觉的扭曲:新异刺激效应

时距知觉会受到刺激新异性的影响,新异刺激的呈现时间往往被认为长于等时距重复出现的标准刺激的呈现时间.已有研究在解释这种主观的时距扩张现象时主要涉及三种假设:注意假设、唤醒假设和神经编码效能假设.研究中的变量混淆问题、跨通道效应和时间因素是今后研究中值得思考的几个问题.对于新异刺激效应产生的心理和神经机制,研究者们还存在着较大分歧.进一步探讨其心理和神经机制对理解时距知觉具有重要意义.     

海洛因戒断者的时间知觉特征

本研究采用时间二分任务来探讨海洛因戒断者的时间知觉特征。结果发现: (1)戒断组的长反应比例在中间时距上显著高于对照组; (2)戒断组的主观相等点低于对照组且差异显著, 韦伯比例与对照组相比差异不显著。结论: 海洛因戒断者更容易高估时间, 并且对时间的高估更多体现在中间时距上。     

时间感知差异对跨期选择倾向的影响作用

本研究从人格特质差异角度出发, 采用简单跨期选择任务考察了由时距复制任务筛选的两类时距估计倾向不同的群体(时间高估者和时间低估者)在跨期选择中行为倾向的差异, 旨在探讨时间感知在跨期决策中的影响作用。结果发现：(1)无论任务难易, 与时间低估者相比, 时间高估者在跨期选择时更倾向于选择即时兑现的较小奖赏。(2)时间高估者和低估者的跨期选择反应时没有明显的差异, 但二者的反应时受任务难度的影响程度明显不同, 时间高估者的跨期选择反应时不受任务难度的影响, 而时间低估者在任务困难时的反应时比任务容易时明显增长。这些结果表明, 在跨期选择过程中, 时间感知倾向差异明显地影响了个体的选择倾向。时间高估倾向个体对时距的高估可能会导致其在跨期选择权衡中对收益成本的高估, 进而做出冲动的选择行为。     

面孔生命性加工的时间进程：ERP研究

本研究采用事件相关电位技术,通过参数设计考察了大脑加工面孔生命性时的神经电活动动态进程。结果显示：非生命性面孔比生命性面孔在中央顶区诱发了更大的LPP波幅;生命性和非生命性面孔诱发的LPP波幅均显著大于中间等级（60%）面孔,提示随生命性信息增强,LPP波幅呈“U”型变化。P1和N170未表现出面孔类别差异。结果表明LPP是探测面孔生命性加工的有效成分,支持面孔生命性加工位于面孔加工的晚期阶段的观点。     

客体工作记忆的保持对时距知觉的影响

初步探讨毫秒范围内,客体信息保持对时间知觉的影响。实验一发现,知觉到的时间不受记忆负荷的影响,但当保持时间短时,低负荷的反应时低于高负荷的反应时;实验二仅要求被试完成时间知觉任务,发现知觉负荷异于记忆负荷对时间知觉的影响。结果说明,客体工作记忆保持对时间知觉的影响受到工作记忆资源的调节。     

注意在时间知觉中的作用及其理论模型

时间知觉是指对刺激的同时性、时间顺序和持续性的认知加工, 表现为时距和时序两个方面。注意机制可以解释实际时间和主观时间之间的差异：注意的增强会延长对时距的估计, 受注意的刺激会被知觉为提早出现。相关的注意理论模型有AGM模型, 系统仿真模型和AUM模型。未来需关注神经科学方面的证据, 进一步推动时间知觉脑机制和跨通道信息整合的研究。     

Impact of Postural Stability and Modality on the Perception of Passage and Surface Climbing

The foundation for this study is the belief that an accurate understanding of affordance perception requires consideration of the observer-ground surface interface. More specifically, it is argued that variations in the organism-environment interface will affect postural stability that, in turn, will affect affordance judgments. It is further expected that the impact of variations in postural stability should be independent of the perceptual system employed by the perceiver. Participants in this study wore shoes meant to create varying degrees of postural stability and used either vision or sound to determine whether a gap afforded passage or a surface could be stepped upon. The results revealed that the manipulation of postural stability significantly affected judgments of passage and climbability. Although modality alone did not influence affordance judgments, it did so in combination with postural stability. Discussion is given to the notion that an accurate understanding of perception requires consideration of the perceiver and the environment as a single unit.     

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。     

图形识别中学习和再认取样的时间进程及其策略

本研究探讨图形识别学习和再认中取样的时间进程及其策略。被试为24名大学生,刺激材料为20个不规则无意义几何图形,以EyelinkII型眼动仪为主要实验设备。结果发现：显示方式和反馈条件显著影响图形再认期间的取样时间进程;图形学习时和再认时取样首视点的时间和空间方位具有显著相关,具有时空的一致性;反馈条件对取样策略调整主要体现在增加取样点数目、固定中等取样路径、增加取样点时间和减少取样辅助操作等方面;即时反馈提示显著影响再认时的取样,但是对学习时的取样影响不显著     

元音范畴知觉中特征分析和整合的时间进程

采用启动范式,在三个实验中通过操纵启动音和目标音的频谱相似度和时间间隔,考察了汉语听者元音范畴知觉中特征分析和整合的时间进程。结果发现随着启动音（从纯音、复合音到目标元音本身）和目标元音频谱相似度的增加,启动效应延续的时间越来越长。实验结果支持语音范畴知觉存在早期的声学特征分析和整合到后期的范畴知觉阶段,并为这些加工阶段的时间进程提供了初步的证据。