Apparent duration and numerosity as a function of melodic familiarity

Abstract

Measurements of the apparent duration, numerosity, familiarity, predictability, and organization of musical sequences were obtained to resolve conflicting claims about the effects of stimulus variables on duration judgments and to assess whether subjective number is an effective mediating variable underlying duration judgments. Intervals filled with perceptually familiar, organized, and predictable sequences of musical notes were judged by verbal estimation and, in most cases, by magnitude estimation to be longer and to have more notes than their perceptually unfamiliar reverse counterparts. The relationship between perceived and physical duration or number is consistent with Stevens's law, with exponents typical of reported values. Temporal and numerosity exponents derived from verbal estimates, but not from magnitude estimates, were higher for familiar, organized, and predictable sequences, but only when sequences were not paired with their reverse counterparts. Exponents and intercepts were not independent, but were inversely related; both may be needed to describe the duration and numerosity data.Duration perception is affected by several factors. Time intervals containing complex, unfamiliar, more numerous, or less predictable stimuli are estimated to be longer than intervals containing simpler (e.g

Evaluating the Urban Commute Experience: A Time Perception Approach

“…However, the use of time fillers (e.g., visual and audio entertainment, and music broadcasting as commonly used in public transportation) can lead to mixed results. Entertainment containing overly repetitive or perpetually familiar content has been shown to lengthen one's perceived duration (Kowal 1987), when presenting as temporal cues, or inducing boredom, or both. Also, customer affective responses to musical pieces vary with individual tastes and preferences (North and Hargreaves 1999).…”

The effect of task interruption and closure on perceived duration

“…Numerous cognitive activities have been shown to affect perceived duration. For example, perceived duration increases with the complexity of the material processed within a given interval (Hogan, 1975;Ornstein, 1969;Schiffman & Bobko, 1974), with the number of events or items perceived within a given interval (Kowal, 1987;Poynter & Homa, 1983) and with memory factors, such as the amount of information retained from an experienced duration (Mulligan & Schiffman, 1979;Ornstein, 1969).…”

Analyzing coefficients of psychophysical power functions

“…A number of researchers have examined the relation between the coefficient (or its logarithm) and the exponent for different experimental conditions or for individual subjects (e.g., Baird, Kreindler, & Jones, 1971;Gescheider & Hughson, 1991;Kowal, 1987;Robinson, 1992;Stevens, 1974), and most have found the coefficient to be negatively related to the exponent. From the point of view of the coefficient as an indication of the size of the response, the negative relation would suggest that subjects or experimental conditions that produce greater responses tend to yield lower exponents.…”

“…Rule, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2E9. tin, 1983;Gescheider & Hughson, 1991;Kowal, 1987;Robinson, 1992). Some of these studies were designed to show that the unit of subjects' responses is stable with respect to changes in experimental procedure or with the same experimental procedure on different occasions.…”