A developmental study of the role of learning processes in duration estimation

Abstract

A developmental study of the role of learning processes in duration estimationThe role of learning in accuracy of duration estimation was examined using the response duration schedule with 155 children in 6 groups between the ages of 3 and 9 years and with 20 adults.The main results were as follows: (a) Most children over 3 years 10 months of age could learn to estimate more or less exactly the duration of a 10s interval by using visual and the true value) decreased with age. (c) In the early learning period, response duration estimations were generally too short but lengthened rapidly in the later stages, though very long response durations were often shown by 3-year-old children in the early stages. (d) The ability to fine tune the duration estimation by using feedback increased with age. These findings were explained by Matsuda's model of duration estimation.

A developmental study on a duration estimation

“…Findings of this experiment suggest that this "decentration" begins generally at seven years of age. The age is nearly the same as that of the beginning of "decentration" in the development of time concept (see Matsuda, Ichitani, and Matsuda, 1986, 1987, 1988.…”

“…Group A included adult subjects who ranged from 18 years 2 months to 19 years 11 months. All these subjects were the same as the ones who had succeeded in the learning in the experiment of Matsuda and Matsuda (1987). They first carried out learning at a duration estimation of 10s, whose results were indicated in Matsuda and Matsuda (1987), then entered into the experimental session examining the effects of intermittent sounds, whose results would be indicated in this paper.…”

“…All these subjects were the same as the ones who had succeeded in the learning in the experiment of Matsuda and Matsuda (1987). They first carried out learning at a duration estimation of 10s, whose results were indicated in Matsuda and Matsuda (1987), then entered into the experimental session examining the effects of intermittent sounds, whose results would be indicated in this paper. Mean number of trials to reach the criterion of learning had been 13.6, 13.8, 10.3, 8.2, 7.8, 5.6, or 5.8 in each age group from Group 3 to Group A.…”

“…Recently, Matsuda (1985Matsuda ( , 1989 and Matsuda and Matsuda (1987) proposed a model for a duration estimation which seemed to be fairly comprehensive for the various factors that had been found to affect the estimation of duration.…”

“…Even in very young children, it might be possible to examine the effects of stimuli on the duration estimation, if learning of duration estimation is carried out in advance for them to increase its accuracy. In fact, in the experiment of this study, the same subjects that had succeeded in reaching the learning criterion in the experiment of Matsuda and Matsuda (1987) were used to examine the effects of intermittent sounds on duration estimation without any intermissions.…”