An Endogenous Metric for the Perception of Short Temporal Intervals
Hancock, Peter Adrian
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/71863
Description
Title
An Endogenous Metric for the Perception of Short Temporal Intervals
Author(s)
Hancock, Peter Adrian
Issue Date
1983
Department of Study
Physical Education
Discipline
Physical Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Psychology, Physiological
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of selective head temperature elevation and depression upon the perception of brief temporal intervals. In the first experiment each of twelve male subjects undertook one of the possible twenty-four orders of presentation of four thermal conditions. In each condition the auditorily and visually isolated subject produced sequential one, eleven and forty-one second periods using an operative estimation technique, while concomitantly recording trials. There were twenty trials at each period for both a filled and unfilled manipulation. In the placebo condition a heating helmet was worn but not activated, while the control condition was accomplished in the absence of the helmet. The mild and more severe heating conditions stabilized temperature, measured in the deep auditory meatus, at increases of 0.5(DEGREES)C and 1.0(DEGREES)C above initial monitored baseline values, respectively. The pattern of results for the mean estimation of all periods, under each thermal condition, was consistent across each subject. Analysis indicated a significant decrease of estimation under the severe heating compared to the three alternate conditions. The second experiment employed twelve different male subjects on the same task in three thermal conditions, namely, control, placebo and cold. Temperature depression was achieved through a water cooled helmet. Although statistical analysis distinguished estimation in the placebo condition as significantly faster, the effects of helmet administration and mild cooling were partly confounded and results from this experiment are somewhat equivocal. Overall results imply a non-linear relationship between head temperature and the perception of short temporal intervals. The rejection of the simplistic isomorphism between physiological change and the perception of time, which is implied by the chemical clock hypothesis, is based upon such non-linearity and not on subject inconsistency as has been the case with previous empirical investigations. The study indicates the existence of a thermally sensitive endogenous mechanism for the control of short-term temporal perception.
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