Organization of stimulus events and remembered apparent duration

Abstract

Two experiments, using Bransford and Johnson's (1972) paradigm, investigated the relationship between the degree of organization of the stimulus events occurring during the interval and the remembered apparent duration of the interval. Experiment 1 used the method of estimation and Experiment 2 the method of comparative judgement to assess the remembered duration of the interval. In both experiments the events were sentences which, depending on the provision of thematic information, could be organized either into a meaningful whole or as a sequence of semantically unrelated sentences. While the experimental manipulation affected memory and comprehension measures there was no effect on judgements of duration. The results are discussed in the context of Ornstein's (1969) memory store size model and Block's (1979) contextual change model of remembered duration.