Human performance on the temporal bisection task

The perception and processing of temporal information are tasks the brain must continuously perform. These include measuring the duration of stimuli, storing duration information in memory, recalling such memories, and comparing two durations. How the brain accomplishes these tasks, however, is still open for debate. The temporal bisection task, which requires subjects to compare temporal stimuli to durations held in memory, is perfectly suited to address these questions. Here we perform a meta-analysis of human performance on the temporal bisection task collected from 148 experiments spread across 18 independent studies. With this expanded data set we are able to show that human performance on this task contains a number of significant peculiarities, which in total no single model yet proposed has been able to explain. Here we present a simple 2-step decision model that is capable of explaining all the idiosyncrasies seen in the data.

[1]  J. Gibbon,et al.  Human bisection at the geometric mean , 1991 .

[2]  Stephen F. Siegel,et al.  The Decision Rule in Temporal Bisection , 1984 .

[3]  Adam Waytz,et al.  The intentional mind and the hot hand: Perceiving intentions makes streaks seem likely to continue , 2010, Cognition.

[4]  L. Allan,et al.  Temporal bisection with trial referents , 2001, Perception & psychophysics.

[5]  [Subjective scales of duration obtained by a method of bissection]. , 1968, L'annee psychologique.

[6]  T. Raslear.  A test of the Pfanzagl bisection model in rats. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[7]  Nancy Cartwright,et al.  A theory of measurement. , 2016 .

[8]  Sylvie Droit-Volet,et al.  Alerting attention and time perception in children. , 2003, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[9]  J. Wearden,et al.  Perception of the Duration of Auditory and Visual Stimuli in Children and Adults , 2004, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[10]  S. Siegel,et al.  A test of the similarity rule model of temporal bisection , 1986 .

[11]  W. Meck.  Selective adjustment of the speed of internal clock and memory processes. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[12]  J. Gibbon.  Scalar expectancy theory and Weber's law in animal timing. , 1977 .

[13]  J. Wearden.  Human Performance on an Analogue of an Interval Bisection Task , 1991, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[14]  L. Rüschendorf,et al.  On the Perception of Time , 2009, Gerontology.

[15]  J G Fetterman,et al.  Time discrimination in Columba livia and Homo sapiens. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[16]  P. Bovet.  Échelles subjectives de durée obtenues par une méthode de bissection , 1968 .

[17]  Gordon D. A. Brown,et al.  Identification and bisection of temporal durations and tone frequencies: common models for temporal and nontemporal stimuli. , 2005, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[18]  W. Meck,et al.  Sensory modality and time perception in children and adults , 2007, Behavioural Processes.

[19]  J H Wearden,et al.  Temporal bisection in children. , 2001, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[20]  S. L. Hobson.  Discriminability of fixed-ratio schedules for pigeons: effects of absolute ratio size. , 1975, Journal of The Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

[21]  J. Gibbon,et al.  Interval-timing deficits in individuals at high risk for schizophrenia , 2005, Brain and Cognition.

[22]  S. Droit-Volet,et al.  A further analysis of time bisection behavior in children with and without reference memory: the similarity and the partition task. , 2007, Acta psychologica.

[23]  Jordan Grafman,et al.  Perceptual timing in cerebellar degeneration , 1996, Neuropsychologia.

[24]  Warren H. Meck,et al.  Temporal integration in duration and number discrimination. , 1985 .

[25]  A. Tversky,et al.  BELIEF IN THE LAW OF SMALL NUMBERS , 1971, Pediatrics.

[26]  Temporal Bisection in Humans with Longer Stimulus Durations , 1997, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[27]  J. Wearden,et al.  Stimulus Spacing Effects in Temporal Bisection by Humans , 1995 .

[28]  Warren H. Meck,et al.  Memory mixing in duration bisection. , 1998 .

[29]  J. Gibbon,et al.  Differential effects of auditory and visual signals on clock speed and temporal memory. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[30]  I J Hirsh,et al.  Studies in auditory timing: 1. Simple patterns , 1990, Perception & psychophysics.

[31]  Robert H. Brown,et al.  Weber Ratio for Visual Discrimination of Velocity , 1960, Science.

[32]  D. C. Nicks.  Prediction of sequential two-choice decisions from event runs. , 1959, Journal of experimental psychology.

[33]  Lewis A. Bizo,et al.  Time's causes , 1997 .

[34]  J. Wearden,et al.  Stimulus range effects in temporal bisection by humans. , 1996, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[35]  Christian S. Jensen,et al.  Temporal Generalization , 2009, Encyclopedia of Database Systems.

[36]  J. Gibbon.  On the form and location of the Psychometric Bisection Function for time , 1981 .

[37]  L. Allan.  The Location and Interpretation of the Bisection Point , 2002, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[38]  O. V. Tcheremissine,et al.  Effects of delays on human performance on a temporal discrimination procedure: Evidence of a choose-short effect , 2006, Behavioural Processes.

[39]  R M Church,et al.  Time left: linear versus logarithmic subjective time. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[40]  M. Jarvik,et al.  Probability learning and a negative recency effect in the serial anticipation of alternative symbols. , 1951, Journal of experimental psychology.

[41]  R. Church,et al.  Bisection of temporal intervals. , 1977, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[42]  L. Ortega,et al.  Effects of visual flicker on subjective time in a temporal bisection task , 2008, Behavioural Processes.