Temporal Bisection Dynamics

Author

Mahdi Shafiei, Utah State UniversityFollow

Date of Award:

8-2020

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Kerry Jordan

Committee

Kerry Jordan

Committee

Amy Odum

Committee

Tyson Barrett

Abstract

Temporal bisection is a behavioral task used to study how we perceive time. However, it is not fully clear how time perception should be interpreted in different variations of this task. Moreover, it is not understood why the results of this task are often different for human and animal subjects. Understanding parameters of this task and making a connection between human and animal experiments may help researchers to understand how time is perceived in the brain and consequently disorders involving time perception.

In this thesis, I propose a computational model that A) provides researchers with a framework to study the parameters of the temporal bisection task to design better experiments and B) gives researchers an insight into potential underlying reasons for differences between human and animal time perception in this task. This model mimics subjects' learning and decision processes in making responses about the length of durations. By manipulating these processes, researchers should be able to verify how time perception is changed in different variations of the task. Additionally, this model helps researchers identify differences in learning and decision processes of human and animal subjects in temporal bisection, which could help explain more general differences in their time perception.

Checksum

4b1054420364defb66ee428eb6927b71

Recommended Citation

Shafiei, Mahdi, "Temporal Bisection Dynamics" (2020). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 7828.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7828