In hindsight, life flows from left to right.
Three experiments investigated the mental representation of meaningful event sequences. Experiment 1 used extended (5 min long) naturalistic scenes excerpted from commercial movies. Experiments 2 and 3 presented everyday activities by means of sequences of six photographs. All experiments found both left-right and distance effects in an order decision task, suggesting that when contemplated in hindsight, experienced events unfold along a left-to-right analogical mental line. Present results are discussed in the context of the mental representation of other kinds of ordinal sequences, and other left-right effects reported in non-ordinal domains.
Santiago
Julio
J
Dept. de Psicología Experimental y Fisiología del Comportamiento, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Cartuja s/n, Granada, Spain. santiago@ugr.es
Román
Antonio
A
Ouellet
Marc
M
Rodríguez
Nieves
N
Pérez-Azor
Pilar
P
D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D009040:Motion Pictures; D010781:Photography; D011930:Reaction Time; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception