Cognitive and Affective Factors in Temporal Experience: Anticipated or Experienced Pleasant and Unpleasant Sensory Events

Abstract

120 Ss reproduced and verbally estimated short (48 sec.) or long (144 sec.) durations under conditions of smelling or anticipating smelling a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral substance. They were initially unaware the study would involve judgments of time. The two durations yielded significant differences. Anticipation conditions were generally judged longer than conditions where Ss actually smelled the substances. No significant differences were found among the Pleasant, Unpleasant, and Neutral conditions, although Ss tended to underestimate the Neutral condition relative to the others. Absolute accuracy of the judgments among the conditions was significant for duration only, with the longer duration providing the larger errors. A moderate correlation (.50) was found between verbal estimation and reproduction measures. Results were discussed in relation to relevant literature on time judgment.