A divergence of sub- and supra-second timing abilities in childhood and its relation to academic achievement

Learning about time: Knowledge of formal timing symbols is related to individual differences in temporal precision.

“…During test, the durations of the stimuli ranged from 200 ms to 4000 ms. The pairs of durations presented on every trial differed by one of four ratios: 1.25, 1.5, 2, 2.25 (modeled after Hamamouche & Cordes, 2019; Odic et al, 2016). The cow played the instrument longer on exactly half of all trials.…”

“…Given prior work demonstrating a relation between numerical acuity and symbolic math (e.g., Halberda et al, 2008;Starr et al, 3 Based on other work suggesting a distinction in performance on suband supra-second timing emerges in childhood (Hamamouche & Cordes, 2019), we explored whether discrimination performance differed between sub and supra second ranges in our study; however, they did not, p Ͼ .26, N ϭ 100. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.…”

“…Substantial work has characterized our nonsymbolic timing abilities. Like other quantities, nonsymbolic representations of time adhere to Weber’s Law (Gibbon, 1977; Hamamouche & Cordes, 2019), such that the speed and accuracy with which discriminations are made is dependent upon the ratio between the two durations, rather than their absolute difference (Stevens, 1957). For example, the ease with which 1 second is discriminated from 2 seconds is comparable to that with which 5 seconds is discriminated from 10 seconds because both comparisons involve a twofold ratio change.…”

“…Even in the absence of a common magnitude system wherein each magnitude relies upon a unique system (see Hamamouche & Cordes, 2019; Odic, 2018), one might still find reason to predict a relation between nonsymbolic and symbolic timing. For one, individuals who have a greater symbolic understanding of time may be better able to encode time.…”

“…), as nonsymbolic representations of time are inherently continuous. Lastly, recent work identifying links between timing abilities and formal mathematics (Hamamouche & Cordes, 2019; Kramer, Bressan, & Grassi, 2011; Odic et al, 2016; Skagerlund & Träff, 2016) further emphasizes the importance of understanding children’s developing temporal abilities. Thus, understanding if a relation exists between symbolic and nonsymbolic timing may provide hints at the source of age-related increases in timing precision, shed light on the mechanisms underlying the relation between numerical acuity and verbal counting, and also inform our understanding of temporal development in childhood.…”