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Methods Commonly Used in Time Perception Research

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The Psychology of Time Perception

Abstract

In temporal reproduction, participants produce a motor response which is intended to reflect the duration of a previously presented stimulus or event. There are various ways of doing this. In early research by Vierordt (1868), for example, two taps were made on a glass plate, with some interval between them, and the participant made a single tap such that the time between the second tap on the plate and the participant’s response was the same as the time between the two taps. This may sound like a rather crude method, but in fact it is in principle very similar to the “ready-set-go” procedure used in more recent research (Jazayeri & Shadlen, 2010). The interval to be reproduced is the time between a “Ready” and “Set” cue, and the participant must then respond once such that the time between the “Set” and the response is the same as that between the two previously presented cues. In Jazayeri and Shadlen’s experiment, feedback was provided as to reproduction accuracy. If the interval reproduced was within some time window around the target, a green signal was then presented, although in many reproduction experiments, no feedback is given with regard to performance accuracy.

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Wearden, J. (2016). Methods Commonly Used in Time Perception Research. In: The Psychology of Time Perception. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40883-9_10

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