An Ecological Approach to Prospective and Retrospective Timing of Long Durations: A Study Involving Gamers

Abstract

To date, most studies comparing prospective and retrospective timing have failed to use long durations and tasks with a certain degree of ecological validity. The present study assessed the effect of the timing paradigm on playing video games in a “naturalistic environment” (gaming centers). In addition, as it involved gamers, it provided an opportunity to examine the effect of gaming profile on time estimation. A total of 116 participants were asked to estimate prospectively or retrospectively a video game session lasting 12, 35 or 58 minutes. The results indicate that time is perceived as longer in the prospective paradigm than in the retrospective one, although the variability of estimates is the same. Moreover, the 12-minute session was perceived as longer, proportionally, than the 35- and 58-minute sessions. The study also revealed that the number of hours participants spent playing video games per week was a significant predictor of time estimates. To account for the main findings, the differences between prospective and retrospective timing are discussed in quantitative terms using a proposed theoretical framework, which states that both paradigms use the same cognitive processes, but in different proportions. Finally, the hypothesis that gamers play more because they underestimate time is also discussed.

Temporal discrimination of one’s own reaction times in dual-task performance: Context effects and methodological constraints

“…Error bars represent ±1 within-subject standard error (Morey, 2008) information to provide an RT estimate probably depends on the availability of attentional resources as well as the saliency and reliability of other information in that particular context (e.g., the comparison intervals in this study). We suggest that even though in the introspective PRP task participants know in advance that they should time their RTs (i.e., it is a prospective timing task), the timing becomes more retrospective because of the high processing demands of the PRP task (see also Tobin, Bisson, & Grondin, 2010;Zakay & Block, 2004). Consequently, participants need to infer their RTs retrospectively on the basis of the episodic information encoded during performance of the PRP task (Zakay & Block, 2004).…”

Timing and time perception: A review of recent behavioral and neuroscience findings and theoretical directions

“…The same type of illusion is observed as well in the auditory (Hodinott-Hill, Thilo, Cowey, & Walsh, 2002) and tactile (Yarrow & Rothwell, 2003) modes. Deviation from real time is also a concern in minute range experiments that are dedicated, for instance, to the impact of playing video games on time perception (Rau, Shu-Yun, & Chin-Chow, 2006;Tobin, Bisson, & Grondin, 2010;). …”

Time perception is enhanced by task duration knowledge: Evidence from experienced swimmers

“…It is well known that taking attentional resources away from time monitoring impairs time perception in prospective timing (Brown, 1997). Prospective 1 timing happens when participants are told before the start of a duration that a time judgement will be required, as opposed to the retrospective paradigm, in which participants are told only afterwards that the elapsed duration will have to be estimated (Tobin, Bisson, & Grondin, 2010). These two paradigms are important to dissociate, as prospective timing is said to rely more heavily on attention .…”

“…Indeed, visualisation of a well-known task or activity may act as a temporal performance enhancer in other, unfamiliar timing situations Finally, we particularly would like to highlight the ecological properties of this set of experiments. As Tobin and colleagues have pointed out (Bisson, Tobin, & Grondin, 2012;Tobin et al, 2010), time perception studies are scarcely taken outside of laboratories. Indeed, this situation may remind one of Neisser's (1976) call for a more ecological theory of the study of memory.…”