Shukla Anuj, Bapi Raju S
Cognitive Science Lab, Kohli Research Centre on Intelligent Systems, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2021 Jan 15;14:629702. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.629702. eCollection 2020.
A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM) suggests that space, time, and quantities are processed through a generalized magnitude system. ATOM posits that task-irrelevant magnitudes interfere with the processing of task-relevant magnitudes as all the magnitudes are processed by a common system. Many behavioral and neuroimaging studies have found support in favor of a common magnitude processing system. However, it is largely unknown whether such cross-domain monotonic mapping arises from a change in the accuracy of the magnitude judgments or results from changes in precision of the processing of magnitude. Therefore, in the present study, we examined whether large numerical magnitude affects temporal accuracy or temporal precision, or both. In other words, whether numerical magnitudes change our temporal experience or simply bias duration judgments. The temporal discrimination (between comparison and standard duration) paradigm was used to present numerical magnitudes ("1," "5," and "9") across varied durations. We estimated temporal accuracy (PSE) and precision (Weber ratio) for each numerical magnitude. The results revealed that temporal accuracy (PSE) for large (9) numerical magnitude was significantly lower than that of small (1) and identical (5) magnitudes. This implies that the temporal duration was overestimated for large (9) numerical magnitude compared to small (1) and identical (5) numerical magnitude, in line with ATOM's prediction. However, no influence of numerical magnitude was observed on temporal precision (Weber ratio). The findings of the present study suggest that task-irrelevant numerical magnitude selectively affects the accuracy of processing of duration but not duration discrimination itself. Further, we argue that numerical magnitude may not directly affect temporal processing but could influence attentional mechanisms.
量级理论（ATOM）认为，空间、时间和数量是通过一个广义量级系统进行处理的。ATOM假定，与任务无关的量级会干扰与任务相关量级的处理，因为所有量级都是由一个共同的系统进行处理的。许多行为和神经成像研究都找到了支持共同量级处理系统的证据。然而，很大程度上未知的是，这种跨领域的单调映射是源于量级判断准确性的变化，还是源于量级处理精度的变化。因此，在本研究中，我们考察了大数值量级是否会影响时间准确性或时间精度，或者两者都会影响。换句话说，数值量级是改变了我们的时间体验，还是仅仅影响了持续时间判断的偏差。使用时间辨别（比较和标准持续时间之间）范式，在不同的持续时间内呈现数值量级（“1”、“5”和“9”）。我们估计了每个数值量级的时间准确性（PSE）和精度（韦伯比率）。结果显示，大数值量级（9）的时间准确性（PSE）显著低于小数值量级（1）和相同数值量级（5）。这意味着，与小数值量级（1）和相同数值量级（5）相比，大数值量级（9）的时间持续时间被高估了，这与ATOM的预测一致。然而，未观察到数值量级对时间精度（韦伯比率）有影响。本研究结果表明，与任务无关的数值量级选择性地影响持续时间处理的准确性，但不影响持续时间辨别本身。此外，我们认为数值量级可能不会直接影响时间处理，但可能会影响注意力机制。
