Time Estimation in Hospitalized Patients as a Function of Goal Distance and Magnitude of Reward

Abstract

This experiment was designed to determine: (a) the direction of change in time estimation due to the magnitude of reward, (b) whether systematic changes in time estimation occurring over a series of trials can be attributed to the effects of previous trials or to the temporal distance from a goal, and (c) whether there is an interaction between (a) and (b). Twenty-four Ss (open ward schizophrenics) were tested individually on a non-verbal time estimation task under conditions of no reward, a dime reward, and a dollar reward. Half the Ss were informed of the number of trials before reward on the two reward series, and half were not informed. Half the Ss in each of these two groups received the larger reward before the smaller. It was found that time intervals under the higher reward condition were underestimated in relation to the low reward intervals, an F test indicating that this difference is significant at less than the .001 level. No other differences between time estimations occurred which could not be accounted for by chance.