TIME ERROR IN REPEATED TRIALS AND A NEW AFTEREFFECT

Abstract

Two experiments involving time error were conducted. In the first experiment, when the subject compared the size of a pair of equal circles presented successively, and this trial was repeated ten times, negative time error occurred even in the case in which the same circle was exposed twenty times with a constant time interval. This phenomenon cannot be explained according to the stimulus arrangement because no clue for segmentation of the pair of stimuli was included. In the second experiment, an aftereffect procedure was applied to this situation, i.e. before the repeated comparison of equal circles, two circles different in size were compared successively and repeatedly. This resulted in the appearance of a negative aftereffect, and this new aftereffect was named the “time order aftereffectâ€. This aftereffect, as well, occurred when the interval was constant and when the stimulus arrangement was of no assistance in segmentation in the pair of stimuli. These results are explained by the function of set which involves the active process of the subject.