Information processing limitations as revealed by temporal discrimination.
Information processing limit is a fundamental issue in cognitive psychology. One particular way of studying it is to adopt a temporal span perspective. In this experiment, Weber fractions based on thresholds for duration discrimination are used for adopting this perspective. The results showed that, contrary to the constant predicted by Weber's law, the Weber fraction is larger at 2 than at .2 s. This increase is observed in conditions where inter-trial intervals and cognitive load are manipulated, and is argued to be due to the fact that 2 s is beyond a temporal span limit for processing information.
Lavoie
Philippe
P
Ecole de psychologie, Université Laval, Que., Canada G1K 7P4.
Grondin
Simon
S
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008606:Mental Processes; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D011601:Psychophysics; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013998:Time Perception