Effect of task length on remembered and predicted duration.
Vierordt's (1868) law states that when estimating the duration of a previous task, people overestimate short durations and underestimate long ones. We examine whether this same pattern holds for remembered and predicted duration for tasks lasting between 1 and 15 min. In support of Vierordt's law and its extension to future duration estimates, task duration tended to be overestimated for short tasks (less than 2 min) and underestimated for long tasks for both remembered and predicted duration.
Roy
Michael M
MM
Department of Psychology, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania 17022, USA. roym@etown.edu
Christenfeld
Nicholas J S
NJ
D001288:Attention; D003469:Culture; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D010469:Perceptual Distortion; D011601:Psychophysics; D013998:Time Perception