Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Recording and Analysis of Circadian Rhythms in Running-wheel Activity in Rodents
Published on: January 24, 2013
Do rats represent time logarithmically or linearly?
1Department of Psychology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Linlin_Yi@Brown.edu
Abstract:
This study examined two possible psychophysical time scales, a logarithmic representation of time with constant variability and a linear representation of time with scalar variability. Twenty-four rats were tested on a modified temporal bisection procedure in which multiple responses could occur in a 10-s time window after the termination of a stimulus. The number of "long" or "short" responses was used as a measure of the rats' certainty of the duration of the presented interval. Data were analyzed with signal detection theory, and straight lines were fit to the zROC curves with the assumptions of a logarithmic representation of time with constant variability and a linear representation of time with scalar variability. The logarithmic representation of time with constant variability provided a better fit to the data than the linear representation of time with scalar variability.
Related Concept Videos
Pharmacokinetic–Pharmacodynamic Relationship: Dose to Pharmacological Effect
Pharmacodynamic Models: Logarithmic Concentration–Effect Model
Exponential Equations with Logarithms: Problem Solving
Laws of Logarithms I
Logarithmic Differentiation
The Integrated Rate Law: The Dependence of Concentration on Time

