Influence of individual differences in temporal sensitivity on timing performance

• Published in: Perception (London) Vol. 27; no. 5; p. 609
• Main Author: Brown, S W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.01.1998
• Subjects: Adult; Attention; Female; Humans; Male; Photic Stimulation; Time Factors; Time Perception
• ISSN: 0301-0066
• DOI: 10.1068/p270609

This research was designed to examine the consistency of individual differences in timing. Subjects were tested initially on a temporal-signal-detection task. In a series of trials, subjects judged whether a stimulus figure was displayed for either 12 s or greater than 12 s. Task performance was used to classify the subjects into groups with high or low temporal sensitivity (d'). Later, the subjects were tested on two classic time-judgment tasks. In a temporal-interference task, subjects reproduced intervals of 8-16 s during which they had rehearsed 0, 3, or 7 digits. Absolute error in time judgments increased linearly as a function of task demands. However, subjects with low temporal sensitivity made more error under all conditions compared with those with high sensitivity. In an isochronous-tapping task, subjects produced a series of 2-s and 5-s intervals. The low-temporal-sensitivity group produced more variable and inaccurate responses than the high-sensitivity group. The results demonstrate cross-situational consistency in timing performance across different tasks, time-judgment methods, and stimulus durations.