Effect of Scene Structure and Impressions on Time Perception

Abstract

Studies have shown that scene perception distorts time perception. We investigated the effect of scene structure and impressions on time perception. Participants viewed an upright, inverted, or scrambled image, and judged whether it was presented for 400 or 1600 ms. Probit analysis was applied to compute a time bisection point for each image type for each participant. Results indicated that the subjective duration was longer when participants viewed upright images rather than scrambled images. However, the effect disappeared when the background color was switched from white to black. For two impressions, appreciation (like or dislike, beautiful or ugly) and speed (fast or slow), we examined perception for a relatively short duration (around 1000 ms) and long duration (2000-8000 ms) and found no significant differences.