Dissociating the sequential dependency of subjective temporal order from subjective simultaneity

PLoS One. 2019 Oct 9;14(10):e0223184. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223184. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The physical simultaneity between two events can differ from our point of subjective simultaneity (PSS). Studies using simultaneity judgments (SJ) and temporal order judgments (TOJ) tasks have shown that whether two events are reported as simultaneous is highly context-dependent. It has been recently suggested that the interval between the two events in the previous trial can modulate judgments both in SJ and TOJ tasks, an effect named rapid recalibration. In this work, we investigated rapid recalibration in SJ and TOJ tasks and tested whether centering the range of presented intervals on perceived simultaneity modulated this effect. We found a rapid recalibration effect in TOJ, but not in SJ. Moreover, we found that centering the intervals on objective or subjective simultaneity did not change the pattern of results. Interestingly, we also found no correlations between an individual's PSS in TOJ and in SJ tasks, which corroborates other studies in suggesting that these two psychophysical measures may capture different processes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Dependency, Psychological*
  • Dissociative Disorders / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Judgment
  • Male
  • Observer Variation
  • Psychometrics
  • Task Performance and Analysis
  • Time Factors
  • Young Adult

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.7416362

Grants and funding

VvW was supported by Commissariat a` l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA)/NeuroSpin and by Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR-16-CE37-0004-04). AMC was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) research grant 17/25161-8. RSR was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.