Interval estimation: Effect of processing demands on prospective and retrospective reports

Undergraduate students performed one of three levels of processing on each word (15, 30, or 45) presented during a 120-sec interval. Subjects were told in advance that they would be required to estimate the length of the presentation interval (prospective condition) or were presented with an unexpected estimation task (retrospective condition). In the prospective condition, interval estimates were an inverse function of list length when relatively deep levels of processing were required, but were an increasing function of list length when shallow processing was required. In the retrospective condition, estimates were an increasing function of list length and were unaffected by different levels of processing. The interval estimation model proposed by Hicks, Miller, and Kinsbourne (1976) provided a better account of the data than did the storage-size hypothesis of Ornstein (1969).

[1]  G Underwood,et al.  Selectivity of Attention and the Perception of Duration , 1973, Perception.

[2]  P. A. Vroon.  Effects of presented and processed information on duration experience , 1970 .

[3]  D J Bobko,et al.  The role of number and familiarity of stimuli in the perception of brief temporal intervals. , 1977, The American journal of psychology.

[4]  Paul Bakan,et al.  Effect of Set and Work Speed on Time Estimation , 1955 .

[5]  R. Ornstein,et al.  The experience of time , 1986 .

[6]  D J Bobko,et al.  Effects of stimulus complexity on the perception of brief temporal intervals. , 1974, Journal of experimental psychology.

[7]  James C. Craig,et al.  A constant error in the perception of brief temporal intervals , 1973 .

[8]  F. Craik,et al.  Levels of Pro-cessing: A Framework for Memory Research , 1975 .

[9]  A study of two factors which affect arousal level and the apparent duration of a ten-minute interval. , 1968, British journal of psychology.

[10]  R. E. Hicks,et al.  Concurrent processing demands and the experience of time-in-passing , 1977 .

[11]  Richard A. Block,et al.  Remembered duration: Evidence for a contextual-change hypothesis. , 1978 .

[12]  Louis Buffardi,et al.  Factors affecting the filled-duration illusion in the auditory, tactual, and visual modalities , 1971 .

[13]  R. E. Hicks,et al.  Judgments of temporal duration while processing verbal and physiognomic stimuli. , 1974, Acta psychologica.

[14]  R. Block,et al.  Memory and the experience of duration in retrospect , 1974, Memory & cognition.

[15]  H. Kucera,et al.  Computational analysis of present-day American English , 1967 .

[16]  E D Curton,et al.  Effects of attentional focus and arousal on the time estimation. , 1974, Journal of experimental psychology.

[17]  R. M. Mulligan,et al.  Temporal experience as a function of organization in memory , 1979 .

[18]  P. Fraisse.  The psychology of time , 1963 .

[19]  Hogan Hw,et al.  A theoretical reconciliation of competing views of time perception. , 1978 .

[20]  Ewart A. C. Thomas,et al.  Time perception and the filled-duration illusion , 1974 .

[21]  William Burnside,et al.  Judgment of short time intervals while performing mathematical tasks , 1971 .

[22]  C. P. Duncan,et al.  Time estimation as a function of level of behavior of successive tasks. , 1959, Journal of experimental psychology.

[23]  George W. Miller,et al.  Effects of concurrent verbal rehearsal and temporal set upon judgments of temporal duration. , 1978, Acta psychologica.

[24]  T D Mckay.  Time Estimation: Effects of Attentional Focus and a Comparison of Interval Conditions , 1977, Perceptual and motor skills.

[25]  R. E. Hicks,et al.  Prospective and retrospective judgments of time as a function of amount of information processed. , 1976, The American journal of psychology.

[26]  E H Cooper,et al.  The total-time hypothesis in verbal learning. , 1967, Psychological bulletin.

[27]  Suchoon S. Mo,et al.  Temporal reproduction of duration as a function of numerosity , 1975 .