Spatiotemporal predictability alters perceived duration of visual events: Memento effect revisited

TY - JOUR

T1 - Spatiotemporal predictability alters perceived duration of visual events

T2 - Memento effect revisited

AU - Meyerhoff, Hauke S.

AU - Vanes, Lucy D.

AU - Huff, Markus

PY - 2015/6/1

Y1 - 2015/6/1

N2 - Does event perception alter perceived duration? Previous research has shown that the perceived duration of a short scene depicting a disk moving along a segmented path is reduced when the temporal order of the motion segments is reversed (Memento effect). This effect has been attributed to the idea that reversed segments give rise to the perception of distinct visual events, whereas continuous segments are perceived as a single event. It has been suggested that the reduction in perceived duration is a result of perceiving multiple distinct events rather than 1. Here, the authors replicate and investigate the origin of the Memento effect. In 4 experiments, they explore the role of the spatiotemporal predictability of the disk's movement as well as the influence of the number of discrete events on perceived duration. Controlling for spatiotemporal predictability eliminates the Memento effect; however, controlling for the number of distinct events does not. Thus, the authors' results suggest that violations in spatiotemporal predictability rather than a varying number of discrete events induce the Memento effect. The authors discuss the impact of these findings for the perception of more naturalistic events.

AB - Does event perception alter perceived duration? Previous research has shown that the perceived duration of a short scene depicting a disk moving along a segmented path is reduced when the temporal order of the motion segments is reversed (Memento effect). This effect has been attributed to the idea that reversed segments give rise to the perception of distinct visual events, whereas continuous segments are perceived as a single event. It has been suggested that the reduction in perceived duration is a result of perceiving multiple distinct events rather than 1. Here, the authors replicate and investigate the origin of the Memento effect. In 4 experiments, they explore the role of the spatiotemporal predictability of the disk's movement as well as the influence of the number of discrete events on perceived duration. Controlling for spatiotemporal predictability eliminates the Memento effect; however, controlling for the number of distinct events does not. Thus, the authors' results suggest that violations in spatiotemporal predictability rather than a varying number of discrete events induce the Memento effect. The authors discuss the impact of these findings for the perception of more naturalistic events.

KW - Event perception

KW - Memento effect

KW - Perceived duration

KW - Spatial uncertainty

KW - Temporal uncertainty

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84930045759&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/xhp0000048

DO - 10.1037/xhp0000048

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84930045759

SN - 0096-1523

VL - 41

SP - 613

EP - 622

JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

IS - 3

ER -