Abstract
Timing is key to accurate performance, for example when learning a new complex sequence by mimicry. However, most timing research utilizes artificial tasks and simple stimuli with clearly marked onset and offset cues. Here we address the question whether existing interval timing findings generalize to real-world timing tasks. In this study, animated video clips of a person performing different everyday actions were presented and participants had to reproduce the main action’s duration. Although reproduced durations are more variable then observed in laboratory studies, the data adheres to two interval timing laws: Relative timing sensitivity is constant across durations (scalar property), and the subjective duration of a previous action influenced the current action’s perceived duration (temporal context effect). Taken together, this demonstrates that laboratory findings generalize, and paves the way for studying interval timing as a component of complex, everyday cognitive performance.
Highlights
Timing and the perception of time are fundamental aspects of our daily life
If this pull towards the mean is driven by a continuously updating memory representation that reflects recent experiences, the durations perceived before the current trial must influence the current trial’s estimate
To assess whether the scalar property held in the current data, we addressed the correlation between the standard deviations and the mean reproduced durations and tested whether subjective duration predicted coefficients of variation
Summary
Timing and the perception of time are fundamental aspects of our daily life. Anything we perceive and experience is expressed over time, and adaptive cognitive performance requires accurate timing, ranging from determining the time between glances in the rear-view mirror while driving, to a well-timed pause in a speech to increase rhetorical effectiveness. The timing of short intervals, referred to as interval timing, has been extensively studied. These studies typically entail processing an interval marked by simple and static stimuli with highly salient and clearly defined on- and offsets. This leaves no ambiguity about the exact start- and endpoint, whereas events in the real world often lack sharp and salient on- and offsets, as, for example, it is not clearly defined at what sound level a silence commences. We report on a study that addresses the question of whether the two prominent law-like properties, scalar property and context effects, generalize to the timing of more realistic timing tasks
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call