The effects of sex, target duration, and illumination on the production of time intervals.
An experiment is reported which examined the effects of illumination, sex, and the duration of target intervals on the perception of time. Six male and six female participants made repeated estimates of one, three, seven, and twenty seconds each, using the production technique. There were sixty trials per duration, half of which were performed with the lights on and half with the lights off. Order of administration of lighting condition and duration of target time was randomized. For estimates expressed as ratios of target times, results indicated significant main effects for participant sex and duration of target time on mean time estimates. However, manipulation of lighting condition did not produce a significant main effect. For the variability of response, there was a significant interaction between sex and light condition such that women were less variable in lighted conditions. These findings are discussed in terms of previous equivocal evidence for the influence of participant sex on time perception and the modification of such an influence through change in experimental conditions.
Hancock
P A
PA
Human Factors Research Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
Arthur
E J
EJ
Chrysler
S T
ST
Lee
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008029:Lighting; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013998:Time Perception