Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/29677
Title: The role of Weber's law in human time perception
Contributor(s): Haigh, Andrew (author); Apthorp, Deborah  (author)orcid ; Bizo, Lewis A  (author)
Publication Date: 2021-01
Early Online Version: 2020-10-20
DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02128-6
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/29677
Abstract: Weber's law predicts that stimulus sensitivity will increase proportionally with increases in stimulus intensity. Does this hold for the stimulus of time - specifically, duration in the milliseconds to seconds range? There is conflicting evidence on the relationship between temporal sensitivity and duration. Weber's law predicts a linear relationship between sensitivity and duration on interval timing tasks, while two alternative models predict a reverse J-shaped and a U-shaped relationship. Based on previous research, we hypothesised that temporal sensitivity in humans would follow a U-shaped function, increasing and then decreasing with increases in duration, and that this model would provide a better statistical fit to the data than the reverse-J or the simple Weber's Law model. In a two-alternative forced-choice interval comparison task, 24 participants made duration judgements about six groups of auditory intervals between 100 and 3,200 ms. Weber fractions were generated for each group of intervals and plotted against time to generate a function describing sensitivity to the stimulus of duration. Although the sensitivity function was slightly concave, and the model describing a U-shaped function gave the best fit to the data, the increase in the model fit was not sufficient to warrant the extra free parameter in the chosen model. Further analysis demonstrated that Weber's law itself provided a better description of sensitivity to changes in duration than either of the two models tested.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 83(1), p. 435-447
Publisher: Springer New York LLC
Place of Publication: United States of America
ISSN: 1943-393X
1943-3921
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 170101 Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology)
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 520203 Cognitive neuroscience
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 970117 Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Psychology

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