title: Perception of temporal order: the effects of age, sex, and cognitive factors.
abstract: The present paper investigates the effects of age, sex, and cognitive factors on temporal-order perception. Nine temporal-order tasks were employed using two and four stimuli presented in the auditory and visual modalities. Significantly increased temporal-order thresholds (TOT) in the elderly were found for almost all tasks, while sex differences were only observed for two tasks. Multiple regression analyses show that the performance on most temporal-order tasks can be predicted by cognitive factors, such as speed of fluid reasoning, short-term memory, and attention. However, age was a significant predictor of TOT in three tasks using visual stimuli. We conclude (1) that age-related differences can often be attributed to cognitive factors involved in temporal-order perception, and (2) that the concept of temporal-order perception is more complex than implied by the current models.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Bad Toelz, Germany. paulbrich@arcor.de
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ulbrich
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Churan
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wittmann
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013998:Time Perception; D055815:Young Adult