Abstract
The current experiments tested if stimulus response compatibility affects duration judgments. Participants performed a temporal bisection task, judging on each trial whether stimulus' duration was closer to pre-learned short (400ms) or long (1600ms) standards. In each experiment, compatibility between stimuli and responses was manipulated. Stimuli were squares that appeared on the left or the right side of the computer monitor, or arrows that pointed left or right. Participants used left and right button presses to judge duration. Response mapping was counterbalanced: half of participants used a right-hand key for "long" judgments and a left-hand key press for "short" judgments, and vice versa for remaining participants. In Experiments 1 and 2, the stimulus appeared on the right or left side of the monitor on each trial. Responses were unspeeded in Experiment 1, and speeded in Experiment 2 (participants had to respond within 800ms of stimulus offset). In Experiments 3 and 4, stimuli were arrows pointing left or right. In Experiment 3, participants could respond immediately after stimulus offset, but in Experiment 4, half of the participants had to wait 2000ms after stimulus offset before responding. In all experiments, long-compatible stimuli reliably elicited long judgments at shorter durations than short-compatible stimuli. In other words, if the right-hand key was mapped to long judgments, squares on the right and arrows pointing right had a greater subjective duration than squares on the left or arrows pointing left. This pattern was reversed when the left-hand key was mapped to long judgments. The effect does not seem to be driven by transient activation of compatible motor responses, because it was observed for both unspeeded (Experiment 1) and delayed (Experiment 4) responses. Overall, these results are consistent with the idea that time perception is affected by stimulus response compatibility.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2016