Abstract
After repetitive exposure to a stimulus of relatively short duration, a subsequent stimulus of long duration is perceived as being even longer, and after repetitive exposure to a stimulus of relatively long duration, a subsequent stimulus of short duration is perceived as being even shorter. This phenomenon is called duration adaptation, and has been reported only for sub-second durations. We examined whether duration adaptation also occurs for supra-second durations (Experiment 1) and whether duration adaptation occurs across sub- and supra-second durations (Experiment 2). Duration adaptation occurred not only for sub-second durations, but also for supra-second durations and across sub- and supra-second durations. These results suggest that duration adaptation involves an interval-independent system or two functionally related systems that are associated with both the sub- and supra-second durations.
Highlights
Perceived duration of an event sometimes deviates from its physical duration
We investigated how duration adaptation affects the perceived duration of the sub- and the suprasecond stimuli, and whether these effects remain within the sub- or the supra-second systems, or extend across the systems
Our results indicate that duration adaptation occurred for sub-second durations and for supra-second durations, and occurred across the sub- and supra-second durations
Summary
Perceived duration of an event sometimes deviates from its physical duration. This so-called ‘time distortion’ (Herbst et al, 2013; Kliegl and Huckauf, 2014) has been a useful tool for understanding time-processing mechanisms. Adaptation is an ecologically useful mechanism, which enables us to flexibly and rapidly change our sensitivity to external stimuli according to the environment around us. Adaptation methods have been widely applied in studies of sensory perception to investigate the mechanisms underlying dynamic and environment-dependent adjustments to our perceptual processes (Webster, 2011). Adaptation-induced time distortion is analogous to sensory adaptation, and is a powerful tool for investigating time-processing mechanisms
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