title: About the (non)scalar property for time perception.
abstract: Approaching sensation scientifically is relatively straightforward. There are physical attributes for stimulating the central nervous system, and there are specific receptors for each sense for translating the physical signals into codes that brain will recognize. When studying time though, it is far from obvious that there are any specific receptors or specific stimuli. Consequently, it becomes important to determine whether internal time obeys some laws or principles usually reported when other senses are studied. In addition to reviewing some classical methods for studying time perception, the present chapter focusses on one of these laws, Weber law, also referred to as the scalar property in the field of time perception. Therefore, the question addressed here is the following: does variability increase linearly as a function of the magnitude of the duration under investigation? The main empirical facts relative to this question are reviewed, along with a report of the theoretical impact of these facts on the hypotheses about the nature of the internal mechanisms responsible for estimating time.
authors.affiliation: École de psychologie, Université Laval, 2325 rue des Bibliothèques, Québec, QC, Canada, G1V 0A6, simon.grondin@psy.ulaval.ca.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grondin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009446:Neurobiology; D013995:Time; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*