Apparent duration and spatial structure

In three experiments, we investigated the relative perceived duration of a full bandwidth image and a set of high- and lowpass filtered images of a scene, briefly presented on a visual display unit. In Experiment 1, the various images were compared with each other, using a paired comparison method. All images were presented for 40 msec, and observers were asked to judge which of each pair of images had the longest duration. The results showed that images containing a wide spatial frequency bandwidth were judged to be of longer duration than were images of a narrower bandwidth, regardless of whether the latter were high- or lowpass filtered. In Experiment 2, a 40-msec presentation of each of the images was compared with a presentation of a probe that was 20, 40, 60, or 80 msec in duration. Observers again judged which of each pair of images had the longest duration. The results were very similar to those of Experiment 1, with wide bandwidth images being judged to be of longer duration than were narrow bandwidth images. In Experiment 3, instead of comparing the various filtered versions of the image with each other, we attempted to obtain a direct measure of perceived duration by comparing a flashing LED to a 40-msec flash of a subset of the images used in the previous experiments. The observers' task was to adjust the duration of the LED flash to match the perceived duration of each image.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)