Title

How cognitive load affects duration judgments: A meta-analytic review

Authors

Authors

R. A. Block; P. A. Hancock;D. Zakay

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Acta Psychol.

Keywords

Time estimation; Attention; Memory; CHILDRENS TIME PERCEPTION; DUAL-TASK PERFORMANCE; SHORT-TERM-MEMORY; REMEMBERED DURATION; APPARENT DURATION; WORKING-MEMORY; PROCESSING; DEMANDS; RECOGNITION MEMORY; PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME; TEMPORAL INTERVALS; Psychology, Experimental

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 117 experiments evaluated the effects of cognitive load on duration judgments. Cognitive load refers to information-processing (attentional or working-memory) demands. Six types of cognitive load were analyzed to resolve ongoing controversies and to test current duration judgment theories. Duration judgments depend on whether or not participants are informed in advance that they are needed: prospective paradigm (informed) versus retrospective paradigm (not informed). With higher cognitive load, the prospective duration judgment ratio (subjective duration to objective duration) decreases but the retrospective ratio increases. Thus, the duration judgment ratio differs depending on the paradigm and the specific type of cognitive load. As assessed by the coefficient of variation, relative variability of prospective, but not retrospective, judgments increases with cognitive load. The prospective findings support models emphasizing attentional resources, especially executive control. The retrospective findings support models emphasizing memory changes. Alternative theories do not fit with the meta-analytic findings and are rejected. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Acta Psychologica

Volume

134

Issue/Number

3

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Document Type

Review

Language

English

First Page

330

Last Page

343

WOS Identifier

WOS:000279660400009

ISSN

0001-6918

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