关键词: 时间知觉, 联合行动, 共同表征, 社会促进

Abstract:

Previous studies have primarily focused on exploring the sources of time perception bias at an individual level, but few studies have investigated the mechanisms behind time perception bias in social contexts. To address this gap, the present study combined joint action and time perception paradigms with the goal of investigating time perception in social contexts and further examining the mechanisms of co-representation and/or social facilitation in joint temporal perception through three experiments.

This study used a between-subject 2 × 2 experimental design, with the factors of context (individual vs. joint) and duration distribution (short intervals vs. long intervals). The stimulus durations were 400 ms or 1000 ms for the short interval group, and 1000 ms or 1600 ms for the long interval group. The varying intervals were indicated by yellow or green circles. Participants initially completed a learning task alone and were then randomly assigned to either an individual or joint context to complete a practice task. In the joint context, two participants who were unfamiliar with each other practiced with different temporal intervals and completed the experiment together. In the individual context, one participant sat alone on the left or right side of the screen to complete the experiment. During the learning phase, participants became familiar with the short- and long-interval stimuli. In the practice phase, solid orange circles of varying durations (from 400 ms to 1000 ms, in 100 ms increments) or solid green circles (from 1000 ms to 1600 ms, in 100 ms increments) were randomly shown on the screen. Participants then judged whether the duration of the stimulus was “short” or “long” based on criteria presented during the learning phase.

In Experiment 1, we found that individuals’ subjective equivalence points were significantly altered, and their sensitivity to time perception was notably reduced in joint situations compared to individual situations. In Experiment 2, we stimulated co-representation by manipulating participants’ beliefs, and the absence of peers reduced the influence of social inhibition. Individuals had similar shifts in subjective equivalence points as observed in joint situations, but there was no significant change in temporal perceptual sensitivity. In Experiment 3, co-representation was attenuated by giving the peer a non-temporal estimation task, while the presence of peers elicited social inhibition. These findings demonstrated a significant decrease in individuals’ time-perception sensitivity compared to the individual situation, but no significant shift in subjective equivalence points was observed.

In summary, the present study suggests that individuals in joint action contexts represent their peers’ task information through the mechanism of co-representation, which introduces bias in time estimation. Additionally, the presence of others creates competition for attentional resources, leading to a reduction in individuals’ sensitivity to time perception in joint action contexts.

Key words: time perception, joint action, co-representation, social facilitation