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Attention and timing in humans
and animals: studies in dual tasks A prominent model of time estimation in humans predicts that subjective duration will be positively correlated to the amount of attention given to temporal processing. Dual-task paradigms have been extensively used to support this prediction. Until recently, dual tasks had not been designed with this aim in animals, although the attentional model is grounded in the temporal information processing model (TIP) that explains the functioning of an internal timer in animals. We will compare performances under two dual-task schedules, one we designed for humans and the other for pigeons. The concurrent tasks to be performed simultaneously were, for humans, temporal reproduction (of 12 and 18 s targets) and semantic categorization, and for animals, temporal discrimination (of 10 to 40 s targets) and variable ratio (VR) responding. Thus, major differences existed between the schedules used for the two species. Nonetheless, consistent trends were observed: Subjective duration shortened as the amount of attention devoted to the temporal task diminished. These results promote the view that, when time elapsing is a key feature of their environment, humans and non-humans use timing mechanisms that share common properties, in particular as concerns their interactions with attentional processes. Keywords: timing, attention, dual tasks, humans, pigeons |
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