Terhune Devin B, Croucher Madeleine, Marcusson-Clavertz David, Macdonald James S P
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford.
Department of Psychology, Lund University.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2017 Nov;43(11):1864-1871. doi: 10.1037/xhp0000461.
Our perception of time varies considerably from moment to moment, but how this variability relates to endogenous fluctuations in attentional states has been neglected. Here, we tested the hypothesis that perceptual decoupling during spontaneous mind wandering episodes distorts interval timing. In two studies with different visual subsecond interval timing paradigms, participants judged their attentional state on a trial-by-trial basis. Mind wandering states were characterized by underestimation of temporal intervals and a decline in temporal discrimination. Further analyses suggested that temporal contraction during mind wandering, but not the decline in temporal discrimination, could be attributed in part to attentional lapses. By contrast, we did not find any robust evidence that metacognition pertaining to interval timing was altered during mind wandering states. These results highlight the role of transient fluctuations in attentional states in intraindividual variability in time perception and have implications for the perceptual consequences, behavioral markers, and costs and benefits, of mind wandering. (PsycINFO Database Record
我们对时间的感知在不同时刻差异很大，但这种变异性与注意力状态的内源性波动之间的关系却一直被忽视。在此，我们检验了这样一种假设：在自发的思维游荡期间，感知解耦会扭曲间隔计时。在两项采用不同视觉亚秒间隔计时范式的研究中，参与者逐次判断自己的注意力状态。思维游荡状态的特征是对时间间隔的低估以及时间辨别能力的下降。进一步分析表明，思维游荡期间的时间压缩，而非时间辨别能力下降，部分可归因于注意力不集中。相比之下，我们没有发现任何有力证据表明，在思维游荡状态下，与间隔计时相关的元认知会发生改变。这些结果凸显了注意力状态的瞬时波动在个体内部时间感知变异性中的作用，并对思维游荡的感知后果、行为标记以及成本和收益具有启示意义。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》 ）
