Duration estimation of upright and inverted facial stimuli

The perceived duration of facial stimuli presented in upright and inverted position in the duration ranges of 40 to 470 ms and of 520 to 2030 ms was investigated. In the first duration range the subjective duration of upright faces was longer than the subjective duration of inverted faces for durations of presentation leading to partial recognition, i..e. when upright faces were recognized easier than inverted ones. The difference between the duration estimates decreased when recognition was completed for the facial stimuli in both positions. It is concluded that recognition performance affects perceived duration: easier recognition is accompanied by longer subjective duration. The results obtained in the second duration range confirmed this conclusion. When the faces in both positions were recognized correctly facial position did not affect perceived duration.