The effect of feedback on temporal error monitoring and timing behavior

Metacognitive processes in human timing behavior are rarely investigated, which stands in sharp contrast to the wide research field of metacognition itself. To date, little is known about the sources and the reliability of information that humans possess to judge their own timing abilities and to monitor errors in time-keeping. Here, we intended to fill this gap by determining the degree to which humans depend on external feedback to adjust their timing behavior and make metacognitive accuracy judgments. Two groups of participants performed a time reproduction task under different feedback conditions. After each trial, participants were informed either about the magnitude and the direction of their timing error (signed feedback group) or about its magnitude alone (absolute feedback group). Reproduction errors were related to retrospective, metacognitive judgments on the overall timing performance. The results indicate that the under reproduction effect occurred, rather independently of the type of feedback; however, signed feedback was essential to reduce the bias in metacognitive judgments on timing accuracy. Without being explicitly informed about the direction of timing errors (whether the reproduction interval was stopped too early or too late), participants significantly overestimated their reproduced durations. These results extend previous reports of metacognitive processes in timing behavior measured on a single-trial basis, and provide new insights into the ability of temporal error monitoring in humans.