Prospective and Retrospective Duration Judgment: The Role of Information Processing and Memory

Abstract

Research comparing prospective and retrospective duration-judgment paradigms has produced diverse findings and conclusions. Two experiments reported here reveal that information-processing tasks influence duration judgment differently in the two paradigms. Experiment 1 shows that performing a more difficult task shortens prospective judgments but does not influence retrospective judgments. Experiment 2 shows that performing different kinds, rather than a single kind, of processing during a duration lengthens retrospective judgments but does not influence prospective judgments. Memory for nontemporal (stimulus) information processed during a time period cannot account for either prospective or retrospective duration judgment, because the pattern of effects and interactions is different. This finding rejects memory-storage models of duration judgment. Interactions of task and paradigm support a contextual-change model, which says that different kinds of contextual information subserve prospective and retrospective duration judgments.