A temporal distinctiveness theory of contextually cued retrieval from memory is presented and applied to recency and modality effects. According to this theory, one part of the mnemonic trace of an item is a representation of the item's time of presentation. Time of presentation may be encoded with a coarse grain (so that it is consistent with a wide range of times) or with a fine grain (so that it is consistent with a narrow range of times). Retrieval proceeds by constructing temporally defined search sets that include representations of items consistent with the temporal bounds of the search set. The temporal width of the search set increases as the retention interval increases. Recency effects arise from retrieval of recently presented items from narrow search sets that include representations of few items; within the context of the search set, these items are distinctive and recalled well. Superiority in recall of recently presented auditory information in comparison with recently presented visual information is attributed to differences in the grain of time of presentation representations for aurally (fine grain) and visually (coarse grain) presented information. Four experiments confirm qualitative and quantitative predictions of the theory, including the prediction of auditory superiority at the beginning of the list when the initial items are temporally distinct.

A temporal distinctiveness theory of recency and modality effects.

Time perception performance was systematically investigated in adolescents with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Specifically, the effects of manipulating modality (auditory and visual) and length of duration (200 and 1000 ms) were examined. Forty-six adolescents with ADHD and 44 controls were administered four duration discrimination tasks and two control tasks, and a set of standardized measures. Participants with ADHD had higher thresholds than controls on all of the duration discrimination tasks, with the largest effect size obtained on the visual 1000 ms duration discrimination task. No group differences were observed on the control tasks. Visual-spatial memory was found to be a significant predictor of visual and auditory duration discrimination at longer intervals (1000 ms) in the ADHD sample, whereas auditory verbal working memory predicted auditory discrimination at longer intervals (1000 ms) in the control sample. These group differences suggest impairments in basic timing mechanisms in ADHD.

Time perception: modality and duration effects in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

What is common to brain activity evoked by the perception of visual and auditory filled durations? A study with MEG and EEG co-recordings.

Duration processing in children as determined by time reproduction: implications for a few seconds temporal window.

We investigated the consistency between tactually and visually designated empty time intervals. In a forced-choice discrimination task, participants judged whether the second of two intervals was s...

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Vibro-tactile and visual asynchronies: sensitivity and consistency.

The present experiment assessed intersensory differences in temporal judgments, that is, auditory stimuli are perceived as longer than physically equivalent visual stimuli. The results confirmed the intersensory difference. Auditorially defined intervals were experienced as longer than visually defined intervals. Auditory boundaries were perceived as longer than visual ones. An interaction of boundary modality and interval modality was obtained which suggested that auditorially defined intervals provided more temporal information about events occurring in close temporal proximity than visually defined intervals. It was hypothesized that cognitive factors, specifically stimulus complexity, would affect the auditory and visual systems differentially. This hypothesis was not substantiated, although highly complex stimuli were experienced as longer than those of low complexity.

Aliza J. Sebel

Papers

Auditory and visual differences in time perception.