According to the spatial–temporal association of response codes (STEARC) effect, time can be spatially represented from left to right. However, exploration of a possible STEARC effect along the vertical axis has yielded mixed results. Here, in six experiments based on a novel paradigm, we systematically explored whether a STEARC effect could emerge when participants were asked to classify the actual temporal duration of a visual stimulus. Speeded manual responses were provided using a vertically oriented response box. Interestingly, although a top-to-bottom time representation emerged when only two temporal durations were employed, an inverted bottom-to-top time representation emerged when a denser set of temporal durations, arranged along a continuum, was used. Moreover, no STEARC effects emerged when participants classified the shapes of visual stimuli rather than their temporal duration. Finally, three additional experiments explored the STEARC effect along the horizontal axis, confirming that the paradigm we devised successfully replicated the standard left-to-right representation of time. These results provide supporting evidence for the notion that temporal durations can be mapped along the vertical axis, and that such mapping appears to be relatively flexible.

根据响应代码的时空关联 (STEARC) 效应，时间可以在空间上从左到右表示。然而，沿垂直轴探索可能的 STEARC 效应产生了不同的结果。在这里，在基于新范式的六个实验中，我们系统地探讨了当参与者被要求对视觉刺激的实际时间持续时间进行分类时，是否会出现 STEARC 效应。使用垂直方向的响应框提供加速的手动响应。有趣的是，虽然当只使用两个时间持续时间时会出现从上到下的时间表示，但当使用沿连续体排列的一组更密集的时间持续时间时，会出现倒置的自下而上时间表示。而且，当参与者对视觉刺激的形状而不是它们的持续时间进行分类时，没有出现 STEARC 效应。最后，三个额外的实验探索了沿水平轴的 STEARC 效应，证实我们设计的范例成功地复制了标准的从左到右的时间表示。这些结果为时间持续时间可以沿垂直轴映射的概念提供了支持证据，并且这种映射似乎相对灵活。