An evaluation of the span and direction of spread of the concept "now" (Japanese ima): using both the dual scaling and factor analysis methods

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to obtain information about both the span and direction of spread of the concept "now" (Japanese ima) used in short sentences such as "I am--a student." 583 subjects were presented with 55 sentences, and were required first to rate on a 5-point scale the degree of spread of the concept used in each sentence, and then to express its span and direction in terms of seconds, minutes, ... years, decades, or centuries in both a past- and a future-orientation. The latter data were analysed using the Dual Scaling method which revealed three major solutions: "span", "direction", and "interrelation between the previous two". The former data were analysed using the Factor Analysis method which revealed six factors: "moment", "conversion", "limitlessness", "absorption", "limitation" and "hopelessness". Furthermore, second-order analyses were carried out using these six factors, revealing three further factors: "duration", "change" and "timelessness". It was concluded that these latter three factors were identical with the three solutions obtained by Dual Scaling.