Azizuddin Khan
Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai
An experiment was conducted using 180 subjects to determine the effects of four factors
on time estimation: cognitive load (low, medium, and high), actual duration (short vs.
long), method of time judgment (verbal estimation vs. reproduction), and paradigm
(prospective vs. retrospective). Analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.
Time estimation data were analyzed using directional and absolute error. For directional
error, all the main effects and few interactions were significant. For absolute error, main
effects of paradigm and cognitive load as between subjects and main effect of actual
duration as within subjects were significant; some interactions were also significant. In
general, there was overestimation of short duration in all the conditions under prospective
paradigm. Under retrospective paradigm, there was underestimation of time judgment.
Time estimation under prospective paradigm was more accurate than under retrospective
paradigm. Time judgment was more accurate under verbal estimation as compared to
reproduction method
s
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