Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T07:00:04.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assessment of time perception: The effect of aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2004

MIGUEL COELHO ,
JOAQUIM JOSÉ FERREIRA ,
BEATRIZ DIAS ,
CRISTINA SAMPAIO ,
ISABEL PAVÃO MARTINS  and
ALEXANDRE CASTRO-CALDAS
MIGUEL COELHO
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos da Linguagem, Centro de Estudos Egas Moniz, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Hospital Santa Maria, Av. Egas Muniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
JOAQUIM JOSÉ FERREIRA
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos da Linguagem, Centro de Estudos Egas Moniz, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Hospital Santa Maria, Av. Egas Muniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal Instituto de Farmacologia e Terapêutica Geral, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Hospital Santa Maria, Av. Egas Muniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
BEATRIZ DIAS
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos da Linguagem, Centro de Estudos Egas Moniz, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Hospital Santa Maria, Av. Egas Muniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
CRISTINA SAMPAIO
Affiliation:
Instituto de Farmacologia e Terapêutica Geral, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Hospital Santa Maria, Av. Egas Muniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
ISABEL PAVÃO MARTINS
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos da Linguagem, Centro de Estudos Egas Moniz, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Hospital Santa Maria, Av. Egas Muniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
ALEXANDRE CASTRO-CALDAS
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos da Linguagem, Centro de Estudos Egas Moniz, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Hospital Santa Maria, Av. Egas Muniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Studies concerning time perception lack a validated assessment tool and a consensual “gold-standard” measure. Moreover, the present evidence suggests modification of timing with aging. This study aimed to develop and validate a neuropsychological tool to measure time perception and to study temporal perception with aging. Eighty-six healthy participants, aged 15–90 years old, were asked to verbally estimate and produce empty intervals signaled by auditory beeps, of 7-, 32-, and 58-s duration. Two tests were used as “gold-standards”: estimation of the duration of time necessary to draw a clock (“clock time”) and estimation of the duration of neuropsychological evaluation (“global time”). Results showed a correlation between estimation and production (p < .01) and a correlation between estimation or production and “global time” (p < .01). The correlation between either estimation or production and age (p < .01), suggested a faster “internal-clock” in the older participants. However, this finding lost significance when controlled for literacy. The results suggest that these tests are potentially a useful tool to measure subjective perception of time. They also corroborate the hypothesis of a change in subjective time perception with aging. It was not possible to conclude if this effect was a specific result of aging or biased by the interference of literacy. (JINS, 2004, 10, 332–341.)

Keywords

Time perceptionAgingWorking memoryAttention
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , May 2004 , pp. 332 - 341
Copyright
© 2004 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allan, L.G. (1979). The perception of time. Perception and Psychophysics, 26, 340–354.Google Scholar
Artieda, J. & Pastor, M.A. (1996). Time, internal clocks and movement. In G.E. Stelmach & P.A. Vroon (Eds.), Advances in psychology, Vol. 115 (pp. 1–27). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Bindra, D. & Waksberg, H. (1956). Methods and terminology in the studies of time estimation. Psychological Bulletin, 63, 155–159.Google Scholar
Binkofski, F. & Block, R.A. (1996). Accelerated time experience after left frontal cortex lesion. Neurocase, 2, 485–493.Google Scholar
Block, R.A. (1990). Models of psychological time. In R.A. Block (Ed.), Cognitive models of psychological time (pp. 1–35). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Block, R.A. (1992). Prospective and retrospective duration judgment: The role of information processing and memory. In F. Macar & V. Pouthas (Eds.), Time, action and cognition: Towards bridging the gap (pp. 141–152). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
Block, R.A. & Zakay, D. (1997). Prospective and retrospective duration judgments: A meta-analytic review. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 4, 184–197.Google Scholar
Brown, S.W. (1997). Attentional resources in timing: Interference affects in concurrent temporal and nontemporal working memory tasks. Perception and Psychophysics, 59, 1118–1140.Google Scholar
Carrasco, M.C., Guillem, M.J., & Redolat, R. (2000). Estimation of short temporal intervals in Alzheimer's disease. Experimental Aging Research, 26, 139–151.Google Scholar
Carrasco, M.C., Bernal, M.C., & Redolat, R. (2001). Time estimation and aging: A comparison between young and elderly adults. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 52, 91–101.Google Scholar
Craik, F.I.M. & Hay, J.F. (1999). Aging and judgments of duration: Effects of task complexity and method of estimation. Perception and Psychophysics, 61, 549–560.Google Scholar
Davis, R. (1962). L'estimation d'intervalles temporels en comptant plus ou moins rapidement. Anné Psychologique, 62, 29–44.Google Scholar
Folstein, M.F., Folstein, S.E., & McHugh, P.R. (1975). Mini-Mental State. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatry Research, 12, 189–198.Google Scholar
Fortin, C. & Breton, R. (1995). Temporal interval production and processing in working memory. Perception and Psychophysics, 57, 203–215.Google Scholar
Fortin, C., Rousseau, R., Bourque, P., & Kirouac, E. (1993). Time estimation and concurrent nontemporal processing: Specific interference from short-term memory demands. Perception and Psychophysics, 53, 536–548.Google Scholar
Fraisse, P. (1963). The psychology of time. New York: Harper.
Fraisse, P. (1984). Perception and estimation of time. Annual Review of Psychology, 35, 1–36.Google Scholar
Garcia, C. (1984). A Doença de Alzheimer. Problemas de diagnóstico clínico. Dissertação de Doutoramento. Lisboa: Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa.
Gibbon, J., Church, R.M., & Meck, W. (1984). Scalar timing in memory. In J. Gibbon & L. Allan (Eds.), Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 423: Timing and time perception (pp. 52–77). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Guerreiro, M., Silva, A.P., Botelho, M.A., Leitão, O., Castro-Caldas, A., & Garcia, C. (1994). Adaptação à População Portuguesa da tradução do “Mini Mental State Examination” (MMSE). Revista Portuguesa de Neurologia, 1, 9–10.Google Scholar
Ivry, R. & Hazeltine, R.E. (1995). Perception and production of temporal intervals across a range of duration: Evidence for a common timing mechanism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21, 3–18.Google Scholar
Keele, S.W., Pokorny, R.A., Corcos, D.M., & Ivry, R. (1985). Do perception and motor production share common timing mechanisms: A correlational analysis. Acta Psychologica, 60, 173–191.Google Scholar
Mangels, J.A. & Ivry, R.B. (2001). Time perception. In B. Rapp (Ed.), Handbook of cognitive neuropsychology: What deficits recall about the human mind, Chapter 19 (pp. 467–493). Hove: Psychological Press.
McConchie, R.D. & Rutschmann, J. (1971). Human time estimation: On difference between methods. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 32, 319–336.Google Scholar
Meck, W.H. (1996). Neuropharmacology of timing and time perception. Cognitive Brain Research, 3, 227–242.Google Scholar
Nichelli, P. (1993). The neuropsychology of human temporal information processing. In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.), Handbook of neuropsychology, Vol. 8 (pp. 339–371). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Ornstein, R.E. (1969). On the experience of time. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.
Pastor, M.A., Artieda, J., Jahanshahi, M., & Obeso, J. (1992). Time estimation and reproduction is abnormal in Parkinson's disease. Brain, 115, 211–225.Google Scholar
Poppel, E. (1997). A hierarchical model of temporal perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1, 56–61.Google Scholar
Riesen, J.M. & Schnider, A. (2001). Time estimation in Parkinson's disease: Normal long duration estimation despite impaired short duration discrimination. Journal of Neurology, 248, 27–35.Google Scholar
Rubia, K., Schuri, U., Cramon, D.Y.V., & Poppel, E. (1997). Time estimation as a neuronal network property: A lesion study. NeuroReport, 8, 1273–1276.Google Scholar
Sheehan, D.V., Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, K.H., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., Weiller, E., Hergueta, T., Baker, R., & Dunbar, G.C. (1998). The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I): The development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59, 22–33; quiz 34–57. Adapted to Portuguese (Portugal) by T. Guterres.Google Scholar
Wearden, J.H. (1991). Do humans possess an interval clock with scalar timing properties? Learning and Motivation, 22, 59–83.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D.A. (1969). Manuel de I'èchelle clinique de mémoire. Paris, France: Centre de Psychologie Appliquée.
Zakay, D. (1990). The evasive art of subjective time measurement. In R.A. Block (Ed.), Cognitive models of psychological time (pp. 59–84). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.