Abstract
Varying the location of a nontemporal task during a time estimation task affects temporal estimates. Previous studies have also shown that manipulating the location of a stimulus to ignore may disturb timing similarly, suggesting that the effect might be independent of the processing requirements in the nontemporal task. In Experiment 1, the location of a tone varied during a 2-sec interval production; participants were asked either to ignore the tone or to discriminate its frequency. Productions were longer when the tone was presented later, but only when it was processed. In Experiment 2, short and long tones corresponding to more or less difficult discrimination tasks were used. The location effect was stronger and remained stronger throughout the experiment when participants were tested with the short tone in the first experimental session than when they were tested with the long tone first. These results suggest that timing is influenced by relatively stable attention-sharing strategies.
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This work was supported by scholarships to J.C. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l’Aide à la Recherche, and by a grant to C.F. from NSERC.
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Champagne, J., Fortin, C. Attention sharing during timing: Modulation by processing demands of an expected stimulus. Perception & Psychophysics 70, 630–639 (2008). https://doi.org/10.3758/PP.70.4.630
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/PP.70.4.630