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Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments

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 a...

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Autores principales: Shukla, Anuj, Bapi, Raju S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7843367/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33519406
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.629702
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author Shukla, Anuj
Bapi, Raju S.
author_facet Shukla, Anuj
Bapi, Raju S.
author_sort Shukla, Anuj
collection PubMed
description 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 via attentional mechanisms.
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spelling pubmed-78433672021-01-30 Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments Shukla, Anuj Bapi, Raju S. Front Hum Neurosci Human Neuroscience 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 via attentional mechanisms. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-01-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7843367/ /pubmed/33519406 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.629702 Text en Copyright © 2021 Shukla and Bapi. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Human Neuroscience
Shukla, Anuj
Bapi, Raju S.
Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments
title Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments
title_full Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments
title_fullStr Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments
title_full_unstemmed Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments
title_short Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments
title_sort numerical magnitude affects accuracy but not precision of temporal judgments
topic Human Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7843367/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33519406
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.629702
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