Perception of time: variations in verbal content and delay of estimation

Delay of time estimation results in consistently longer judgments than immediate estimation, yet confirmatory studies have relied primarily on numerical digits for interpolated material as shown, for example, by Vitulli and Rowe in 1999. The present study used three paragraphs audiotaped from a 1998 textbook in general psychology by Baron as stimuli presented for judgment of the passage of time. Among 218 undergraduate volunteers delay of estimation produced significantly longer judgments regardless of the verbal passage, and short-term memory scores varied as a function of content.