Abstract
Subjects performed a psychomotoric task and gave a prospective verbal estimate of its duration. One group of subjects was then made aware of optimal division of attention between the psychomotoric task and the passage of time, and again performed the task and prospectively estimated its duration. It was found that the accuracy of the time estimation markedly improved for that group of subjects relative to a control group whose awareness of the division of attention was not raised. Implications for understanding time estimation processes are discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Burnside, W. (1971). Judgment of short time intervals while performing mathematical tasks. Perception & Psychophysics, 9, 404–406.
Cahoon, D., & Edmonds, E. M. (1980). The watched pot still won’t boil: Expectancy as a variable in estimating the passage of time. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 16, 115–116.
Fraisse, P. (1984). Perception and estimation of time. Annual Review of Psychology, 35, 1–36.
Frankenhauser, M. (1959). Estimation of time. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell.
Gopher, D., & Brickner, N. (1980). On the training of time sharing skills: An attentional viewpoint. In G. Carvick, M. Hazeltine, & R. Durst (Eds.), Proceedings 24th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors Society. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society.
Hicks, E. R. (1976). Effect of information feedback upon intentional consistency of time judgment. Acta Psychologica, 40, 265–270.
Hicks, E. R., & Miller, G. W. (1976). Transfer of time judgments as a function of feedback. American Journal of Psychology, 89, 303–310.
Hicks, E. R., Miller, G. W., Gaes, G., & Bierman, K. (1977). Concurrent processing demands and the experience of time in passing. American Journal of Psychology, 90, 431–446.
Lordahl, D. S., & Berkowitz, S. (1975). The watched pot does boil: A case of the wrong control group. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 5, 45–46.
Priestly, J. B. (1968). Man and time. New York: Dell.
Vroon, P. A. (1970). Effects of presented and processed information on duration experience. Acta Psychologica, 34, 115–121.
Wickens, C. D. (1984). Engineering psychology and human performance. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill.
Zakay, D., & Fallach, E. (1984). Immediate and remote time estimation: A comparison. Acta Psychologica, 57, 69–81.
Zakay, D., Nitzan, D., & Glicksohn, J. (1983). The influence of task difficulty and external tempo on subjective time estimation. Perception & Psychophysics, 34, 451–456.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zakay, D., Tsal, Y. Awareness of attention allocation and time estimation accuracy. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 27, 209–210 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334586
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334586