| Abstract: | Seventy-two children, ages 34 to 73 months, were presented with one of six different relative duration problems that involved judging which of two lights was on longer. In addition to the traditional 4- versus 7-s duration condition, each child was tested on a long (4- vs. 28-s) and a short (1- vs. 7-s) condition. Two of the problems were logically impossible to solve on the basis of nontemporal cues. Results showed that, contrary to predictions based on standard models of the logical time concept, long and short conditions were easier for children to solve than the traditional 4- versus 7-s condition. Furthermore, children were able to solve problems that are logically impossible to solve on the basis of nontemporal information. These results indicate that children have a perceptual experience of duration separate from one derived inferentially from nontemporal knowledge (e.g., start/stop relationships, speed, distance, and brightness) and that they can use this perceptual knowledge to solve relative duration problems. This suggests that the logical time concept involves the capacity to experience duration perceptually and that models of the time concept that do not acknowledge such a capacity (e.g., Piaget's) must be reassessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
