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Time is Confidence: Monetary Incentives Metacognitive Profile on Duration Judgment
Mitra Taghizadeh Sarabi1,2, Eckart Zimmermann1
1Institute for Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Journal of Cognition
|January 13, 2025
Summary
The prospect of monetary reward influences time perception, making durations seem longer. This effect is particularly pronounced in individuals with high confidence, who overestimate time when expecting gains.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroeconomics
Background:
- Subjective time perception is crucial for decision-making.
- Monetary rewards can influence cognitive processes, but their specific impact on time perception remains debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether the prospect of monetary reward gain affects subjective time perception.
- To examine the role of confidence in mediating this effect.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed a duration discrimination task with trial-based confidence reports.
- A monetary reward gain condition was compared against a neutral condition.
- The relationship between confidence levels and time perception was analyzed.
Main Results:
- Monetary reward prospect led to perceived duration expansion compared to the neutral condition.
- Confidence was higher in the reward gain condition.
- High-confidence individuals showed greater time overestimation in the reward condition, suggesting confidence, not reward valence, drives the effect.
Conclusions:
- Subjective confidence profiles, rather than reward expectancy alone, contribute to time perception overestimation.
- Confidence bias is a significant predictor of time perception, especially under conditions of uncertainty.
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