Weber’s law predicts that stimulus sensitivity will increase proportionally with increases in stimulus intensity. Does this hold for the stimulus of time – specifically, duration in the milliseconds to seconds range? There is conflicting evidence on the relationship between temporal sensitivity and duration. Weber’s law predicts a linear relationship between sensitivity and duration on interval timing tasks, while two alternative models predict a reverse J-shaped and a U-shaped relationship. Based on previous research, we hypothesised that temporal sensitivity in humans would follow a U-shaped function, increasing and then decreasing with increases in duration, and that this model would provide a better statistical fit to the data than the reverse-J or the simple Weber’s Law model. In a two-alternative forced-choice interval comparison task, 24 participants made duration judgements about six groups of auditory intervals between 100 and 3,200 ms. Weber fractions were generated for each group of intervals and plotted against time to generate a function describing sensitivity to the stimulus of duration. Although the sensitivity function was slightly concave, and the model describing a U-shaped function gave the best fit to the data, the increase in the model fit was not sufficient to warrant the extra free parameter in the chosen model. Further analysis demonstrated that Weber’s law itself provided a better description of sensitivity to changes in duration than either of the two models tested.

韦伯定律预测，刺激敏感性将随着刺激强度的增加而成比例地增加。这是否会刺激时间-特别是持续时间在毫秒到秒的范围内？关于时间敏感性和持续时间之间的关系有相互矛盾的证据。韦伯定律预测间隔定时任务的敏感度和持续时间之间的线性关系，而两个替代模型预测反向的J形和U形关系。根据先前的研究，我们假设人类的时间敏感性将遵循U形函数，然后随着持续时间的增加而增加，然后减少，并且该模型将提供比逆J或简单J更好的数据统计拟合。韦伯定律模型。在两个备选的强制选择时间间隔比较任务中，24名参与者对100到3200毫秒之间的六组听觉间隔进行了持续时间判断。针对每组间隔生成韦伯分数，并针对时间作图，以生成描述对持续时间刺激的敏感性的函数。尽管灵敏度函数略微凹入，描述U形函数的模型对数据具有最佳拟合，但是模型拟合的增加不足以保证所选模型中额外的自由参数。进一步的分析表明，与所测试的两个模型中的任何一个相比，韦伯定律本身对持续时间变化的敏感性提供了更好的描述。针对每组间隔生成韦伯分数，并针对时间作图，以生成描述对持续时间刺激的敏感性的函数。尽管灵敏度函数略微凹入，描述U形函数的模型最适合数据，但是模型拟合的增加不足以保证所选模型中的额外自由参数。进一步的分析表明，与所测试的两个模型中的任何一个相比，韦伯定律本身对持续时间变化的敏感性提供了更好的描述。针对每组间隔生成韦伯分数，并针对时间作图，以生成描述对持续时间刺激的敏感性的函数。尽管灵敏度函数略微凹入，描述U形函数的模型最适合数据，但是模型拟合的增加不足以保证所选模型中的额外自由参数。进一步的分析表明，与所测试的两个模型中的任何一个相比，韦伯定律本身对持续时间变化的敏感性提供了更好的描述。