Presentation Information
[P1-11]Time, space and Temporal momentum: an online replication and beyond
*Mario Bonato1, Manuel Vencato1, Mariagrazia Ranzini1, Marco Zorzi1,2 (1. Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Italy (Italy), 2. IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Lido Venice (Italy))
Keywords:
Temporal momentum,Operational momentum,Time-space interaction,Duration,Time reproduction
Performing mental arithmetic on brief temporal durations has been recently shown to induce operation-specific distortions. In a time reproduction task the request to add short durations resulted in longer responses while subtraction resulted in shorter responses than the correct, purely mathematical, outcome (Bonato et al., 2021, Cognition). This effect has been named “temporal momentum” in analogy with the representational momentum found when representing the position of moving objects as it mirrors the operational momentum charactering mental arithmetic. It suggests that our representation of time includes some features resembling closely those involved in spatial processing. In Experiment 1 we assessed the reliability of the temporal momentum effect in the first direct replication of Bonato et al.’s temporal arithmetic task by using an online procedure for data collection. In Experiment 2 we also tested whether the under-estimation found in subtraction is due to a longer operand being always presented first in the original study. The results showed a reliable temporal momentum effect that was virtually indistinguishable from previous, laboratory-based, experiments. Moreover, in Experiment 2 under-estimation in subtraction was still present when participants had to compute an order-independent difference between two operands, thereby excluding that the temporal momentum in subtraction is due to the specific ordering of stimuli used. This new evidence coming from a pre-registered study further demonstrates that the temporal momentum effect is a robust and reliable marker of manipulation in the domain of temporal durations.