The Experts below are selected from a list of 57759 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Giovanna Mioni - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
the effect of Symbolic Meaning of speed on time to contact
Acta Psychologica, 2019Co-Authors: Luca Battaglini, Giovanna MioniAbstract:Abstract The effects of moving task-irrelevant objects on time-to-contact (TTC) judgments are examined in six experiments. In particular, we investigated the effects of the Symbolic Meaning of speed on TTC by presenting images of objects recalling the Symbolic Meaning of high speed (motorbike, rocket, formula one, rabbit, cheetah and flying Superman) and low speed (bicycle, hot-air balloon, tank, turtle, elephant and static Superman). In all experiments, participants judged the TTC of these moving objects with a black line, indicating the end of the occlusion. Experiment 7 was conducted to disambiguate whether the effects on TTC, found in the previous experiments, were either a by-product of a speed illusion or they were rather elicited by the implicit timing task. In a two-interval forced choice task, participants were instructed to judge if “high-speed objects” moved actually faster than “slow-speed objects”. The results revealed no consistent speed illusion. Taken together the results showed shorter TTC estimated with stimuli recalling the Meaning of high compared to low speed, but only with the long occlusion duration (3.14 s). At shorter occlusion durations, the pattern was reversed (participant tend to have shorter TTC with stimuli recalling the Meaning of low speed). We suggest that the Symbolic Meaning of speed works mainly at low speed and long TTC, because the semantic elaboration of the stimulus needs a deeper cognitive elaboration. On the other hand, at higher speeds, a small erroneous perceptual judgment affects the TTC, perhaps due to a speed expectancy violation of the expected “slow object”.
-
effect of the Symbolic Meaning of speed on the perceived duration of children and adults
Frontiers in Psychology, 2018Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Franca Stablum, Simon Grondin, Gianmarco Altoe, Dan ZakayAbstract:The present study investigated how the Symbolic Meaning of speed affects time perception in children and adults. We employed a time reproduction task in which participants were asked to reproduce temporal intervals previously presented. In Experiment 1, 45 primary school children and 22 university students performed a time reproduction task with cars (Meaning of fastness) and trucks (Meaning of slowness) presented for 11 and 21 sec in static and moving conditions. Results showed that young children under-reproduced the duration more than the older children and adults, especially when the stimulus presented was a car. Moreover, participants under-reproduced moving stimuli compared to static one. In Experiment 2, we tested 289 participants who were divided into 9 different age groups according to their school class: 5 from primary school, 3 from Junior High and one from the university. Participants performed a time reproduction task with a motorbike (Meaning of fastness) or a bicycle (Meaning of slowness) under static and moving conditions for 11, 21 and 36 sec. The results confirmed the effects of Symbolic Meaning of speed on children’s time perception and showed that vehicles that evoked the idea of fastness were under-reproduced compared to stimuli evoking the idea of slowness.
-
faster is briefer the Symbolic Meaning of speed influences time perception
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2015Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Dan Zakay, Simon GrondinAbstract:The present study investigates how the Symbolic Meaning of the stimuli presented for marking time intervals affects perceived duration. Participants were engaged in a time bisection task in which they were first trained with two standard durations, 400 ms and 1600 ms, and then asked to judge if the following temporal intervals were closer to the short or to the long standard. Stimuli were images of vehicles representing speed, with a motorbike representing fastness and a bicycle representing slowness. Results showed that presenting images with different speed Meanings affects time perception: an image representing a fast object, the motorbike, leads to shorter perceived time than presenting an image representing a slower object, the bicycle. This finding is attributed to an impact on the memory mechanism involved in the processing of temporal information.
-
how Symbolic Meaning influences time perception in primary school children and adults
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Franca Stablum, Dan Zakay, Simon GrondinAbstract:Abstract The time dimension is always embedded in any human experience and is an inseparable part of it. According to scalar timing theory, timing behavior is based on the output of an internal clock that provides long-term memory representations that can be retrieved and compared with the representation of the current temporal interval held in short-term memory. More precisely, the model includes a pacemaker, a switch, and an accumulator. At the onset of a timed stimulus, the switch closes, thereby allowing pulses emitted by the pacemaker to enter the accumulator. At the offset of the stimulus, the switch opens and pulse transfer terminates. Thus, representation of stimulus duration depends on the number of pulses accumulated during the stimulus presentation. According to the model, a temporal judgment results from a comparison, via the decision mechanism, of this representation of stimulus duration with longer-term representations of biologically significant durations experienced previously. However, the relevance and importance of time is not constant but varies depending on the Meaning assigned to a certain situation. The present study investigated how Symbolic Meaning affectes time perception in school children and adults. In particular, we investigated how children experience time and how the environment acts on children subjective experience of time. Stimuli with different Symbolic Meaning are be employed (the Meaning of fastness or slowness). In the present study we employed two stimuli, one that recalls the Meaning of fastness (motorbike) and one that recalls the Meaning of slowness (bicycle). We predicted that observing a stimulus that recall the Meaning of speed affect participant's performance in the way that stimuli that recall the Meaning of fastness will be under-reproduced and stimuli that recall the Meaning of slowness will be over- reproduced. Two experiments are presented. Experiment 1 included two hundred participants divided in 9 different groups according to their school class: 5 groups belonged to primary school, 3 groups were middle school, and 1 group was of university students. Participants were engaged in a time reproduction task in which a motorbike or a bicycle were presented for 11, 21, and 36 s. After the presentation of the standard duration, participants were required to press the space bar to reproduce the duration previously presented. Significant differences between groups were found. Younger participants under-reproduced the duration more than did older participants. Importantly, an effect of Symbolic Meaning was found in youngre participants (up to 8 years old) older participants did not present any effect of Symbolic Meaning. We reasoned that the time reproduction task might not be the appropriate method to investigate time perception in older participants in particular when longer durations are employed. Experiment 2 included twenty university students. The visual stimuli were four pictures representing a bicycle and a motorbike and a bicycle and a motorbike driven by a person. Participants were engaged in a time bisection task: standard short 400 ms and the standard long was 1600 ms. Each standard duration was presented 10 times. After the training phase participants were required to perform 4 blocks. In each block, the four pictures were presented 7 times for each of the comparison durations (400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600 ms; total 196 trials in each block). The participants were asked to respond with their left and right index finger and response keys were counterbalanced between participants. The cumulative normal function was fitted to the resulting curves. We calculated the temporal bisection point as index of perceived duration; the observed shift of the bisection point for the different vehicles presented can be interrelated as an indicator of differences in perceiving duration. Thus, longer perceived durations are reflected by smaller bisection points values. Results confirmed and extended previous findings observed with younger participants. When the stimulus presented recalled the Meaning of fastness, temporal intervals were under- estimated, whereas, when the stimulus presented recalled the Meaning of slowness, temporal intervals were over-estimated. The present study also pointed out the importance of selecting the appropriate method to investigate time perception.
Timothy Zick - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
cross burning cockfighting and Symbolic Meaning toward a first amendment ethnography
Social Science Research Network, 2004Co-Authors: Timothy ZickAbstract:Current First Amendment doctrine with respect to Symbolic gestures - expressive conduct, sacred symbols, and expressive association - is mired in interpretive indifference and interpretive avoidance. Courts are reluctant to rigorously interpret the Meaning of Symbolic gestures. Sometimes this is due to indifference toward, or even hostility to, the nature of the gesture or the substance of its message. Judicial treatment of nude dancing and expressive protests manifests this sort of normative bias. Sometimes judicial reticence to engage Symbolic Meaning is due to more legitimate concerns regarding the indeterminacy of Meaning and institutional competence. Judicial examination of sacred symbols like creches and menorahs falls into this category. The doctrines of indifference and avoidance have substantially marginalized Symbolic gestures, robbing them of their expressive power and significance. This Article proposes an anthropo-semiotic model for the judicial treatment of Symbolic gestures. It posits that judges might begin to escape indifference and avoidance by learning from anthropologists who have both experience with and useful insights with regard to the interpretation of enigmatic social and cultural gestures. With particular attention to the work of the anthropologist Clifford Geertz, the Article develops a four-part model for First Amendment Symbolic gestures. In brief, the parts or elements of the model are: rigorous factfinding; thick description; emic perspective; and interpretation. The idea is not that courts literally do anthropology or become anthropologists, but rather that they develop a systematic method for dealing with the Meaning of Symbolic gestures in First Amendment cases. After developing the elements of the model, the Article considers how the model or approach might apply to a range of Symbolic gestures, including cross burning, nude dancing, religious symbolism, and associational membership. The object is not to discover the one true Meaning of any of these gestures, but rather to choose the most plausible Meaning of a gesture from among the many competing available circulating Meanings. It is hoped that specific and systematic attention to factfinding, description, perspective, and interpretation will elevate Symbolic gestures in terms of their First Amendment status and, as importantly, allow courts to more objectively and legitimately confront Symbolic Meaning in various expressive contexts.
-
cross burning cockfighting and Symbolic Meaning toward a first amendment ethnography
William and Mary law review, 2004Co-Authors: Timothy ZickAbstract:TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE CULTURE OF Symbolic GESTURES A. Early Statements on First Amendment Symbolism B. Symbols of Protest 1. Peaceful Sit-Ins 2. Symbolic Protests of Hostilities 3. Symbolic Protests of Government Policies 4. The Symbolism of the U.S. Flag C. Symbolic Eroticism: The Act of Dancing Nude D. Parades and Other Symbolic Gatherings E. Symbols of Fear, Hate, and Violence F. Sacred Symbols G. Symbolic Membership H. Summary: Current Doctrine and the Way Forward II. AN ETHNOGRAPHIC MODEL FOR Symbolic GESTURES A. A Semiotic Conception of "Culture" 1. The Cultural and Constitutional Significance of Symbols 2. "Sacred Symbols" B. The Mechanics of the Interpretive Perspective 1. Data Gathering--Building Cultural Context 2. "Thick Description" 3. On "Going Native": Emic and Etic Perspectives 4. Symbolic Meaning and Interpretation III. Symbolic GESTURES REVISITED: TOWARD A FIRST AMENDMENT ETHNOGRAPHY A. Legally Uncontested and Contested Meanings 1. Legally Uncontested Symbolic Meaning 2. Legally Contested Symbolic Meaning B. Symbols of Violence and Hatred 1. Ritual Cross Burning 2. The Confederate Flag 3. Symbols of Nazism C. The "Said" of the Striptease D. Other Symbolic Expressive Activity E. The Semiotics of Sacred Symbols F. The Meaning of Membership G. Some Final Thoughts on Interpretation and "Meaning" 1. Semiotic Competence and Interpretive Authority 2. Judging Meanings IV. CONCLUSION: THE BENEFITS OF AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF GESTURES A. Rejecting Indifference--Recalibrating the First Amendment Hierarchy B. Constitutional Balancing and Semiotic Precision INTRODUCTION We live in a culture of symbols. (1) We speak not only through our words but through Symbolic gestures--our acts, our religious symbols, and our associations. What we do, what we wear, how we worship, and with whom we associate are all deeply Symbolic aspects of our cultural life. Despite this rich symbolism, what it is that we say when we act, worship, and join has been a topic treated substantially with indifference by courts and scholars. What does it mean to burn a draft card or a cross, to sleep in the park, or to dance in the nude? What does the display of a menorah, or creche, or the Ten Commandments at the county courthouse signify? What does it mean to join the Jaycees, the Rotary Club, or the Boy Scouts? Although a diverse and complex symbolism inheres in the First Amendment, courts have made little effort to translate or interpret these and other Symbolic gestures. Outside the realm of "pure" expression, whose Meaning is often self-evident, it seems that judges are loathe to delve too deeply into Symbolic Meaning. As a result, what we have now is a very thin doctrine of Symbolic gestures. (2) This does not have to be so. Indeed, one recent exception to the general disengagement from Symbolic Meaning stands out and deserves particular attention. In Virginia v. Black, (3) the Supreme Court held that cross burning could be prohibited, categorically, as a "threat" outside the protection of the First Amendment. (4) The record facts in Black can be stated briefly. One man, leading a Ku Klux Klan rally, burned a cross on private property some 300 feet from the nearest public road and in view of his neighbors, while two other men, on a separate occasion, attempted to burn a cross in an African American neighbor's yard. (5) This conduct was said to violate a Virginia criminal statute regulating cross burning undertaken with the "intent of intimidating any person or group of persons." (6) Although the Court concluded that the government could prohibit cross burning as a form of threatening symbolism, it held that the Virginia statute was procedurally flawed. …
Simon Grondin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
effect of the Symbolic Meaning of speed on the perceived duration of children and adults
Frontiers in Psychology, 2018Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Franca Stablum, Simon Grondin, Gianmarco Altoe, Dan ZakayAbstract:The present study investigated how the Symbolic Meaning of speed affects time perception in children and adults. We employed a time reproduction task in which participants were asked to reproduce temporal intervals previously presented. In Experiment 1, 45 primary school children and 22 university students performed a time reproduction task with cars (Meaning of fastness) and trucks (Meaning of slowness) presented for 11 and 21 sec in static and moving conditions. Results showed that young children under-reproduced the duration more than the older children and adults, especially when the stimulus presented was a car. Moreover, participants under-reproduced moving stimuli compared to static one. In Experiment 2, we tested 289 participants who were divided into 9 different age groups according to their school class: 5 from primary school, 3 from Junior High and one from the university. Participants performed a time reproduction task with a motorbike (Meaning of fastness) or a bicycle (Meaning of slowness) under static and moving conditions for 11, 21 and 36 sec. The results confirmed the effects of Symbolic Meaning of speed on children’s time perception and showed that vehicles that evoked the idea of fastness were under-reproduced compared to stimuli evoking the idea of slowness.
-
faster is briefer the Symbolic Meaning of speed influences time perception
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2015Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Dan Zakay, Simon GrondinAbstract:The present study investigates how the Symbolic Meaning of the stimuli presented for marking time intervals affects perceived duration. Participants were engaged in a time bisection task in which they were first trained with two standard durations, 400 ms and 1600 ms, and then asked to judge if the following temporal intervals were closer to the short or to the long standard. Stimuli were images of vehicles representing speed, with a motorbike representing fastness and a bicycle representing slowness. Results showed that presenting images with different speed Meanings affects time perception: an image representing a fast object, the motorbike, leads to shorter perceived time than presenting an image representing a slower object, the bicycle. This finding is attributed to an impact on the memory mechanism involved in the processing of temporal information.
-
how Symbolic Meaning influences time perception in primary school children and adults
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Franca Stablum, Dan Zakay, Simon GrondinAbstract:Abstract The time dimension is always embedded in any human experience and is an inseparable part of it. According to scalar timing theory, timing behavior is based on the output of an internal clock that provides long-term memory representations that can be retrieved and compared with the representation of the current temporal interval held in short-term memory. More precisely, the model includes a pacemaker, a switch, and an accumulator. At the onset of a timed stimulus, the switch closes, thereby allowing pulses emitted by the pacemaker to enter the accumulator. At the offset of the stimulus, the switch opens and pulse transfer terminates. Thus, representation of stimulus duration depends on the number of pulses accumulated during the stimulus presentation. According to the model, a temporal judgment results from a comparison, via the decision mechanism, of this representation of stimulus duration with longer-term representations of biologically significant durations experienced previously. However, the relevance and importance of time is not constant but varies depending on the Meaning assigned to a certain situation. The present study investigated how Symbolic Meaning affectes time perception in school children and adults. In particular, we investigated how children experience time and how the environment acts on children subjective experience of time. Stimuli with different Symbolic Meaning are be employed (the Meaning of fastness or slowness). In the present study we employed two stimuli, one that recalls the Meaning of fastness (motorbike) and one that recalls the Meaning of slowness (bicycle). We predicted that observing a stimulus that recall the Meaning of speed affect participant's performance in the way that stimuli that recall the Meaning of fastness will be under-reproduced and stimuli that recall the Meaning of slowness will be over- reproduced. Two experiments are presented. Experiment 1 included two hundred participants divided in 9 different groups according to their school class: 5 groups belonged to primary school, 3 groups were middle school, and 1 group was of university students. Participants were engaged in a time reproduction task in which a motorbike or a bicycle were presented for 11, 21, and 36 s. After the presentation of the standard duration, participants were required to press the space bar to reproduce the duration previously presented. Significant differences between groups were found. Younger participants under-reproduced the duration more than did older participants. Importantly, an effect of Symbolic Meaning was found in youngre participants (up to 8 years old) older participants did not present any effect of Symbolic Meaning. We reasoned that the time reproduction task might not be the appropriate method to investigate time perception in older participants in particular when longer durations are employed. Experiment 2 included twenty university students. The visual stimuli were four pictures representing a bicycle and a motorbike and a bicycle and a motorbike driven by a person. Participants were engaged in a time bisection task: standard short 400 ms and the standard long was 1600 ms. Each standard duration was presented 10 times. After the training phase participants were required to perform 4 blocks. In each block, the four pictures were presented 7 times for each of the comparison durations (400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600 ms; total 196 trials in each block). The participants were asked to respond with their left and right index finger and response keys were counterbalanced between participants. The cumulative normal function was fitted to the resulting curves. We calculated the temporal bisection point as index of perceived duration; the observed shift of the bisection point for the different vehicles presented can be interrelated as an indicator of differences in perceiving duration. Thus, longer perceived durations are reflected by smaller bisection points values. Results confirmed and extended previous findings observed with younger participants. When the stimulus presented recalled the Meaning of fastness, temporal intervals were under- estimated, whereas, when the stimulus presented recalled the Meaning of slowness, temporal intervals were over-estimated. The present study also pointed out the importance of selecting the appropriate method to investigate time perception.
Ulrich R. Orth - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Symbolic Meaning in beverage packaging and consumer response
2019Co-Authors: Casparus J A Machiels, Ulrich R. Orth, Nadine YararAbstract:Abstract In crowded retail environments, product packages function as a key agent for brand marketers to grab consumer attention, convey Meaning, and evoke emotion. As brands become less able to compete on noticeable differences in product quality, package characteristics are increasingly used for differentiating brands from competitors. Going beyond obvious product cues such as price, ingredients, and nutrition information, brands communicate with consumers more subtly through their packaging. In essence, the visual (and haptic) design of packages enables brands to convey Symbolic information which consumers use—often without conscious awareness—to infer Meaning. This Symbolic quality of brand packages carries great importance because a mismatch between consumer expectations and the Meaning communicated by a package possibly damages a brand’s value and reputation. Roughly $30 million losses in revenue and costs by the Tropicana orange juice brand illustrate what can happen when a brand package fails to meet the expectations of consumers who are passionate about it. This chapter focuses on the Symbolic Meaning conveyed by a beverage's packaging, especially its shape, material, visual elements (e.g., color, typeface, and images), and label design. Practitioners and researchers are provided with an overview of state-of-the-art empirical findings on how package elements separately and in combination convey important brand and product characteristics, including their effects on consumer decision making. In doing so, this chapter highlights the significance of accounting for Symbolic information when designing packages to better assist professionals in their quest for the ultimately effective beverage package.
-
healthy by design but only when in focus communicating non verbal health cues through Symbolic Meaning in packaging
Food Quality and Preference, 2016Co-Authors: Nadine Karnal, Casparus J A Machiels, Ulrich R. Orth, Robert MaiAbstract:Abstract The visual design of food packages can activate heuristic inferences which in turn shape consumer perception and judgment of salient content. Focusing on two core design elements (typeface and color), this paper demonstrates that visual cues conveying weight (or a lack thereof) influence consumers’ healthiness perceptions, explicitly as well as implicitly. Study 1 reveals that package design elements that differ in weight perception evoke divergent health perceptions of a soft drink. This effect is moderated by consumers’ health promotion focus for typeface, but not for color. Following up on this finding, Study 2 elaborates on the typeface manipulation using an Implicit Association Test to show that the interaction between health promotion focus and typeface weight accounts for implicit associations between sugary foods and healthiness. Together, the two studies provide initial evidence for the influence of design cues differing in heaviness on food healthiness perceptions. The findings add to the literature on health perception and attest to the importance of package design for influencing consumer responses.
Dan Zakay - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
effect of the Symbolic Meaning of speed on the perceived duration of children and adults
Frontiers in Psychology, 2018Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Franca Stablum, Simon Grondin, Gianmarco Altoe, Dan ZakayAbstract:The present study investigated how the Symbolic Meaning of speed affects time perception in children and adults. We employed a time reproduction task in which participants were asked to reproduce temporal intervals previously presented. In Experiment 1, 45 primary school children and 22 university students performed a time reproduction task with cars (Meaning of fastness) and trucks (Meaning of slowness) presented for 11 and 21 sec in static and moving conditions. Results showed that young children under-reproduced the duration more than the older children and adults, especially when the stimulus presented was a car. Moreover, participants under-reproduced moving stimuli compared to static one. In Experiment 2, we tested 289 participants who were divided into 9 different age groups according to their school class: 5 from primary school, 3 from Junior High and one from the university. Participants performed a time reproduction task with a motorbike (Meaning of fastness) or a bicycle (Meaning of slowness) under static and moving conditions for 11, 21 and 36 sec. The results confirmed the effects of Symbolic Meaning of speed on children’s time perception and showed that vehicles that evoked the idea of fastness were under-reproduced compared to stimuli evoking the idea of slowness.
-
faster is briefer the Symbolic Meaning of speed influences time perception
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2015Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Dan Zakay, Simon GrondinAbstract:The present study investigates how the Symbolic Meaning of the stimuli presented for marking time intervals affects perceived duration. Participants were engaged in a time bisection task in which they were first trained with two standard durations, 400 ms and 1600 ms, and then asked to judge if the following temporal intervals were closer to the short or to the long standard. Stimuli were images of vehicles representing speed, with a motorbike representing fastness and a bicycle representing slowness. Results showed that presenting images with different speed Meanings affects time perception: an image representing a fast object, the motorbike, leads to shorter perceived time than presenting an image representing a slower object, the bicycle. This finding is attributed to an impact on the memory mechanism involved in the processing of temporal information.
-
how Symbolic Meaning influences time perception in primary school children and adults
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014Co-Authors: Giovanna Mioni, Franca Stablum, Dan Zakay, Simon GrondinAbstract:Abstract The time dimension is always embedded in any human experience and is an inseparable part of it. According to scalar timing theory, timing behavior is based on the output of an internal clock that provides long-term memory representations that can be retrieved and compared with the representation of the current temporal interval held in short-term memory. More precisely, the model includes a pacemaker, a switch, and an accumulator. At the onset of a timed stimulus, the switch closes, thereby allowing pulses emitted by the pacemaker to enter the accumulator. At the offset of the stimulus, the switch opens and pulse transfer terminates. Thus, representation of stimulus duration depends on the number of pulses accumulated during the stimulus presentation. According to the model, a temporal judgment results from a comparison, via the decision mechanism, of this representation of stimulus duration with longer-term representations of biologically significant durations experienced previously. However, the relevance and importance of time is not constant but varies depending on the Meaning assigned to a certain situation. The present study investigated how Symbolic Meaning affectes time perception in school children and adults. In particular, we investigated how children experience time and how the environment acts on children subjective experience of time. Stimuli with different Symbolic Meaning are be employed (the Meaning of fastness or slowness). In the present study we employed two stimuli, one that recalls the Meaning of fastness (motorbike) and one that recalls the Meaning of slowness (bicycle). We predicted that observing a stimulus that recall the Meaning of speed affect participant's performance in the way that stimuli that recall the Meaning of fastness will be under-reproduced and stimuli that recall the Meaning of slowness will be over- reproduced. Two experiments are presented. Experiment 1 included two hundred participants divided in 9 different groups according to their school class: 5 groups belonged to primary school, 3 groups were middle school, and 1 group was of university students. Participants were engaged in a time reproduction task in which a motorbike or a bicycle were presented for 11, 21, and 36 s. After the presentation of the standard duration, participants were required to press the space bar to reproduce the duration previously presented. Significant differences between groups were found. Younger participants under-reproduced the duration more than did older participants. Importantly, an effect of Symbolic Meaning was found in youngre participants (up to 8 years old) older participants did not present any effect of Symbolic Meaning. We reasoned that the time reproduction task might not be the appropriate method to investigate time perception in older participants in particular when longer durations are employed. Experiment 2 included twenty university students. The visual stimuli were four pictures representing a bicycle and a motorbike and a bicycle and a motorbike driven by a person. Participants were engaged in a time bisection task: standard short 400 ms and the standard long was 1600 ms. Each standard duration was presented 10 times. After the training phase participants were required to perform 4 blocks. In each block, the four pictures were presented 7 times for each of the comparison durations (400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600 ms; total 196 trials in each block). The participants were asked to respond with their left and right index finger and response keys were counterbalanced between participants. The cumulative normal function was fitted to the resulting curves. We calculated the temporal bisection point as index of perceived duration; the observed shift of the bisection point for the different vehicles presented can be interrelated as an indicator of differences in perceiving duration. Thus, longer perceived durations are reflected by smaller bisection points values. Results confirmed and extended previous findings observed with younger participants. When the stimulus presented recalled the Meaning of fastness, temporal intervals were under- estimated, whereas, when the stimulus presented recalled the Meaning of slowness, temporal intervals were over-estimated. The present study also pointed out the importance of selecting the appropriate method to investigate time perception.
