Stop using time reproduction tasks in a comparative perspective without further analyses of the role of the motor response: The example of children

Abstract

The temporal reproduction task is often used to investigate inter-individual differences in the ability to perceive time without any further analyses of the contribution of motor responses to temporal performance. The present study examined the role of motor responses in the reproduction of a 2.5 s and a 4.5 s signal duration in children and adults, with the former producing longer motor responses. The results showed that the 2.5 s duration was overestimated, especially by the younger children, whereas the 4.5 s duration was underestimated in all age groups. Further analyses indicated that the developmental differences related to motor response time explained the age-related difference in temporal reproduction for the shorter duration but not for the longer duration. The modelling of our data suggests that, for the shorter signal duration, the children initiated their responses at the same time as the adults, but that they reproduced longer durations because their motor response took more time to complete. In contrast, for the 4.5 s duration, the children initiated their responses earlier than the adults. However, they reproduced duration values close to the target time because their motor responses took longer. In addition, whatever the duration value to be reproduced, the representation of the sample duration was more variable in the younger children.

Keywords:

• Time perception
• Timing
• Motor response
• Children

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Maria Delgado-Younger for her help in collecting the data, and John Wearden for our discussions about his model. This study was supported by a grant from the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) No. ANR-07-NEURO-048-02, France.

Notes

¹Post hoc analysis revealed only an effect of gender in the 8-year-olds in the 2.5 s condition, the temporal overestimation being greater in the girls than in the boys.

²Post hoc analyses revealed only a main effect of gender in the 5-years-olds, with the boys (0.65) exhibiting more variable temporal reproduction than the girls (0.46).