Exploring the role of serial dependence in visual time perception.

Abstract

Serial dependence biases current perception based on recent experiences, creating continuity in subjective experience. Although extensively studied in vision across tasks such as numerosity, orientation discrimination, and attractiveness, its effect on visual time perception remains partially unexplored. Here, we investigated serial dependence in visual temporal perception, using two common tasks: temporal interval duration discrimination and temporal reproduction. In the discrimination task, participants judged whether the second of three visual stimuli was longer or shorter than the third, with the first stimulus being irrelevant, to induce serial dependence on the second stimulus. In the temporal reproduction task, participants were asked to reproduce an interval presented between two visual stimuli by pressing a button. Given the debate concerning the origin of the serial dependence effect and possible relation with memory processing, we also investigated the relationship between serial dependence and working memory capacity using a Corsi test. Our results showed that serial dependence does occur in visual time perception, but no relationship was found between the effect of the two tasks and memory retention capacity. The lack of correlation between serial dependence effects suggests that different processes may be involved in serial dependence across the two types of tasks.