Temporal responses to environmental scale in the lizard Anolis carolinensis (reptila, lacertilia, iguanidae)

An influence of spatial scale on temporal processing has been described in humans (De Long, 1981). The hypothesis that a similar relationship exists in reptiles was tested by placing twelve lizards in volumetrically constant but large-scale or small-scale "home" environments and alternately exposing them to large and small scale novel environments in a counterbalanced design. Behavioral measures included latencies and frequencies for four types of behavior associated with behavioral arousal and exploration and for duration of behavioral states. Results indicate (1) behavioral latencies are significantly reduced in small-scale novel environments and (2) as predicted, the ratio of latencies in large-scale divided by small-scale novel environments is essentially identical to the ratio of the scales of the environments themselves. Linear regression analyses relating latencies to the ratio yield results remarkably similar to those previously reported for temporal experience and spatial scale in human subjects. This research suggests that an experiential temporal-spatial relativity may be phylogenetically primitive.