[The capacity to distinguish short durations of time intervals in children and adults]

Two groups of children (5-6-year-old and 7-8-year-old) were presented with pairs of sound signals of the same or different durations. Sound signal durations in pairs could be 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, and 2.0 sec. The children had to detect the difference between the sounds in a pair. The obtained data were compared to the analogous results shown by the 18-39-year-old subjects. It was found out that the ability to discriminate intervals of short duration substantially improved with age. This phenomenon in presumably connected with perfection of the short-term memory. Independently of the subject's age, the order of presentation of signals in a pair influences the ability to discriminate between their durations.