Presentation Information
[O3-01]Discrete vs. continuous timer bars: How visual segmentation shapes the perception of time "running out"
*Jasmindeep Kaur1, Jiaying Zhao1, Joan Danielle Ongchoco1 (1. The University of British Columbia (Canada))
Keywords:
event perception,time scarcity
Our lives are flooded with visual reminders of time slipping away — from ticking clocks to countdowns timers, that all depict a sense of time “running out”. In time perception, the same duration can feel longer or shorter as a function of various factors (e.g., attention, predictability) — but we know less about the factors that influence the perception of how much time is left. In visual processing, a key discovery is that while sensory input may be a continuous wash of light, what we experience — what the mind parses — are discrete objects and events. Here we explored how discreteness structures our sense of time running out. Observers completed a multi-item localization (MILO) task, where they clicked on multiple targets in a sequence. In every trial, there was a black-bordered rectangular ‘timer-bar’ initially filled with a color that emptied over a period (e.g., 3 seconds) to visually depict the passage of time. The color diminished either *continuously*, gradually and evenly depleting throughout, or *discretely*, in which the bar was segmented into discrete chunks that disappeared at regular intervals. To measure perceived urgency of time ‘running out’, we examined inter-click latencies (i.e., the time between clicks). Results revealed longer inter-click latencies for discrete (compared to continuous) timer-bars, suggesting greater urgency in the continuous case. This difference disappeared in a separate experiment, where the bar was instead filled over time continuously or discretely, with a reliable interaction between experiments — suggesting that effects could not simply have been a function of one condition being more distracting than another. Thus, discreteness may have distinct effects on our sense of time running out versus time accumulating. Segmentation in visual depictions of time depletion may make time feel more “manageable,” altering our sense of urgency in time-sensitive tasks.