When a target stimulus is probabilistically predicted by the duration of a preceding interval, participants typically adapt to this regularity: they respond faster to frequent than to infrequent combinations of interval duration and target in alternative forced-choice (AFC) tasks. This effect is referred to as time-based expectancy. Time-based expectancy has previously been demonstrated predominantly in scenarios employing visual targets. As human time processing differs between perceptual modalities, further investigation of time-based expectancy in other modalities needs to be addressed. In a pre-registered two-experiment study, we investigated time-based expectancy in the tactile modality. In an AFC task, participants responded by finger presses to vibrotactile finger stimulations. When both targets appeared equally often after both interval durations, we did not observe any pre-existing associations between duration and target (Exp. 1). When interval duration predicted the target, participants showed a significant time-based expectancy effect (Exp. 2). We discuss potential implications for the timing mechanisms underlying time-based expectancy in the tactile domain.

This study investigates how bio-inspired versus sustainability-focused framing influences lay evaluations of a specific bio-inspired building-technology scenario, testing the empirical validity of the so-called "biomimetic promise". Employing a between-subjects experimental design (N=582), we examined assessments of a weather-responsive self-shading façade across bio-inspired, sustainable, and neutral framing conditions. We developed and validated the 12-item Perceived Bio-Inspiration Scale (PBS)-a novel standardized psychometric instrument designed to quantify lay recognition of biomimetic features across visual, intentional, and naturalistic dimensions. While results showed robust direct framing effects, we identified a significant negative spillover: emphasizing biological inspiration significantly reduced the technology's perceived sustainability, while sustainability framing diminished its perceived bio-inspiration. These findings demonstrate, in this façade context, that laypersons evaluate bio-inspiration and sustainability as cognitively distinct and potentially competing constructs, indicating that "natural-is-better" bias is not universal across all technology domains. Consequently, merely invoking biological origins is insufficient to enhance a technology's ecological appeal. To foster public trust, science communication should shift from abstract biological metaphors toward a performance-driven communication strategy that prioritizes the disclosure of verifiable life-cycle assessment and specific operational advantages over symbolic nature-based analogies.

System delays can affect user experience and performance. We conducted two experiments where we investigated whether time-based predictability of vibrotactile stimulation could reduce user response time. In a two-choice reaction task, participants responded to vibrotactile stimulation to their fingers by key presses. We manipulated the predictivity of delays, so that they would be deterministically predictive (in Exp. 1) or probabilistically predictive (in Exp. 2) and compared them to a non-predictive condition where two possible delays were equally distributed over both target stimuli. Results showed that predictivity led to faster and more accurate user responses in the deterministic condition (Exp. 1), but no such benefit was observed in the probabilistically predictive condition (Exp. 2). These results have implications for human computer interfaces where tactile feedback substituting visual or auditory stimuli is necessary.

Existing buildings provide high surface potential for photovoltaic (PV) installations. When deciding whether a building is suitable for solar energy harvesting, social acceptance needs to be considered. While PV is accepted in general, research regarding the acceptance of PV for specific types of buildings is sparse. In two explorative studies, we investigated the building-specific acceptance of PV installations, taking new PV module designs into account. The aim of the first study (N = 76, passersby in the Botanical Garden, Freiburg i. Br. Germany who volunteered to participate) was to investigate which PV module designs are accepted for different buildings. Six different PV crystalline silicon module prototypes varying in color and surface structure were presented on an exhibition table. Using a paper-pencil-survey, participants rated the modules and combined them with presented buildings. Results show that depending on the building, different modules were favored whereby PV modules were chosen mostly due to color integration. In a second study (N = 109, recruited from the participant pool of the institute of psychology, University of Freiburg, Germany, mostly students, and in social media), participants indicated their acceptance of a PV installation for 24 different buildings in an online survey. Results revealed that social acceptance for PV installations on buildings was generally high and was even higher if the PV module was aesthetically integrated or invisibly. PV modules on historical buildings (including a church) were less accepted than on modern buildings. Yet for invisible PV modules, there were no acceptance differences between buildings. Building variables were found to be more important to predict building-specific acceptance than person-related variables such as environmental concerns, values or political attitude. Taken together, the study gives a first insight into the subject of the social acceptance of urban PV installations. Results underline the importance of aesthetic integration and (in)visibility for PV installation on buildings.

In an ever-accelerating world, experiences free of outcome expectancy and time pressure for the pursuit of intrinsic activities are increasingly rare. Such moments are described by the German term 'Musse'. This qualitative study focused on prototypical objects of contemporary Musse architecture. The aim was to investigate empirically how individuals experience such spaces via their ambient atmosphere using semi-structured interviews. By Grounded Theory Methodology, a typology of spatial experiences was developed. The analysis revealed specific and general experience patterns, as well as conducive architectural means. The results are interpreted in terms of theories of Musse, restoration, aesthetic absorption and time experience.

The duration of action can be critical to accomplishing specific goals. Empirical findings and theoretical considerations suggest that different stages of action planning and execution require different specification levels of action features. It is assumed that at first only crude categorical features are integrated into action plans, which are then specified by subsequent sensorimotor processes during action execution based on situational conditions. In two experiments, we investigated if the integration of action duration into action plans indeed relies exclusively on categorical duration representations or also on continuous-metric representations. Participants responded to visual prime and probe stimuli with short and long key presses. The duration of the prime response was indicated by a previous response cue, and the duration of the probe response was indicated by the shape of the probe stimulus. Analyses of response durations revealed that for response category repetitions from prime to probe, the actual durations of the repeated responses were more similar for shape repetitions than for shape switches. This indicates that continuous temporal information is integrated into an action plan and subsequently retrieved by stimulus repetition. Our results suggest that action duration is integrated into the action plan in a relatively precise form at an early stage of action planning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Temporal regularities and the timing of events and actions such as anticipating enemy movements or planning one’s next move are essential components of almost every video game. Thus, to succeed in video games, it is advantageous to anticipate events and prepare relevant actions before they occur. This work explores whether elapsed time can be used as a predictive cue for implicitly anticipating events in video games. Inspired by findings from psychology, we implemented multiple time-event correlations in a custom video game by pairing specific delays with specific game events. Participants had to shoot targets that appeared at different locations. After a certain delay (e.g., 0.8 s), the targets appeared more frequently (80 % of all appearances) at a specific location (e.g., left up). Our analysis of 25 participants provides evidence that players implicitly learned the implemented time-event correlations and used them to anticipate the location of upcoming targets. This led to improved game performance. Although no participant realised the implemented temporal regularities, targets were shot faster when preceded by the frequently paired delay. Our findings pave the way for game developers and researchers alike to more creatively combine human temporal processing with temporal aspects of video games.

Research suggests that post-stimulus positive deflections could be associated with timing. We compared offset-locked potentials N1, P2, N1P2, and late positive component (LPC) in temporal generalization and temporal bisection-with visual probe intervals. In both tasks, the LPC amplitude decreased with the duration of the current probe interval. A larger LPC was found after shorter intervals, whereas other ERP amplitudes did not change between tasks or across durations. We also found that the LPC for different responses indicates subjective time. We discussed our findings in relation to theories of human timing.

The notion of symbiosis has been increasingly mentioned in research on physically coupled human-machine systems. Yet, a uniform specification on which aspects constitute human-machine symbiosis is missing. By combining the expertise of different disciplines, we elaborate on a multivariate perspective of symbiosis as the highest form of physically coupled human-machine systems. Four dimensions are considered: Task, interaction, performance, and experience. First, human and machine work together to accomplish a common task conceptualized on both a decision and an action level (task dimension). Second, each partner possesses an internal representation of own as well as the other partner's intentions and influence on the environment. This alignment, which is the core of the interaction, constitutes the symbiotic understanding between both partners, being the basis of a joint, highly coordinated and effective action (interaction dimension). Third, the symbiotic interaction leads to synergetic effects regarding the intention recognition and complementary strengths of the partners, resulting in a higher overall performance (performance dimension). Fourth, symbiotic systems specifically change the user's experiences, like flow, acceptance, sense of agency, and embodiment (experience dimension). This multivariate perspective is flexible and generic and is also applicable in diverse human-machine scenarios, helping to bridge barriers between different disciplines.

Individuals adapt to their environments by scheduling cognitive processing capacities selectively to the points in time where they are most likely required. This effect is known as time-based expectancy (TBE) and has been demonstrated for several cognitive capacities, like perceptual attention, task set activation, or response preparation. However, it has been argued that self-related cognition (i.e., processing of information linked to oneself) is universally prioritized, compared to non-self-related information in the cognitive system. Consequently, self-related cognition should be resistant to temporal scheduling by TBE, because individuals maintain a constantly high expectancy for self-related cognition, irrespective of its temporal likeliness. We tested this hypothesis in a task-switching paradigm where participants randomly switched between a self-related task and a neutral task. The tasks were preceded by a short or a long warning interval in each trial, and the interval duration predicted probabilistically the task type. We found that participants showed TBE for the neutral task but not for the self-related task. We conclude that the individual cannot benefit from time-based task expectancy when the to-be-expected task is constantly activated, due to its self-related nature.

When the duration of a pre-target interval probabilistically predicts the identity of the target, participants typically form time-based expectancies: they respond faster to frequent interval-target combinations than to infrequent ones. Yet, previous research investigating the cognitive time-processing mechanisms underlying time-based expectancy assessed time-based expectancy always in situations with a binary set of intervals (i.e. short vs. long). Here we aim to test whether time-based expectancy transfers to more complex settings with three different predictive time intervals (short, medium, long) in which each predicts one of three different target stimuli with 80% probability. In three experiments we varied how the medium interval was computed (arithmetic mean, geometric mean, or in between both). Our results showed that participants were able to learn the time-event contingencies for the short and the long as well as for the medium interval, and were, thus able to flexibly redirect their target expectancy two times during the course of a trial. The evidence concerning the impact of the manipulation of the medium intervals' absolute duration on time-based expectancy was, however, mixed, as time-based expectancy for the medium interval could only be observed in one of three reported experiments. In sum, the findings of the present study suggest a previously unknown cognitive flexibility underlying time-based expectancy and offer important theoretical implications, challenging future research on the timing mechanisms involved in time-based expectancy.

Previously, it was shown that the environment of a waiting room can influence the perception of waiting time. The goal of the current study was to examine how waiting environment influ-ences temporal experience, and to explore which dimensions of room atmosphere predict the perception of waiting time. Twenty-four participants spent 90 minutes in an ordinary doctor???s waiting room, and on a different day, another 90 minutes in a sacral room of a distinctly con-templative character. As dependent variables, we assessed various aspects of temporal experi-ence, including passage of-time judgments, time awareness judgments, and duration judg-ments for the waiting time. As independent variables, we assessed the perceived atmosphere of the waiting environment along different dimensional scales, including detachment, cozi-ness, liveliness, tenseness, and valence. The results suggest that perceived valence, detach-ment, and tenseness of a room predict passage of-time judgments and time awareness judg-ments. However, more research is needed to confirm these results. Furthermore, the results were likely biased towards an increased time awareness due to the within-subjects design of the study. Nevertheless, a possible explanation could be that especially unpleasant and de-tached rooms draw one???s attention towards time, whereas more pleasant and less detached rooms allow attention to be deployed on the nontemporal aspects of the situation.

The temporal predictability of upcoming events plays a crucial role in the adjustment of anticipatory cognitive control in multitasking. Previous research has demonstrated that task switching performance improved if tasks were validly predictable by a pre-target interval. Hence, far, the underlying cognitive processes of time-based task expectancy in task switching have not been clearly defined. The present study investigated whether the effect of time-based expectancy is due to expectancy of post-perceptual task components or rather due to facilitation of perceptual visual processing of the coloured task indicator. Participants performed two numeric judgment tasks (parity vs. magnitude), which were each indicated by two different colours. Each task was either more or less frequently preceded by one of two intervals (500 ms or 1500 ms). Tasks were indicated either by colours that were each more frequently (or in Exp. 1 also less frequently) paired with the interval or by colours that were equally frequent for each interval. Participants only responded faster when colour and task were predictable by time (expected colour), not when the task alone was predictable (neutral colour). Hence, our results speak in favour of perceptual time-based task indicator expectancy being the underlying cognitive mechanism of time-based expectancy in the task switching paradigm.

Museums can be restorative environments that promote recovery from directed attention fatigue. The current study investigated the effect of the time spent in a museum on the perception of the museum as restorative environment. A total of 67 participants were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions that differed in how much time participants spent in the museum: 10 min, 45 min, or 110 min. Additionally, we assessed participants' subjective experience of the duration (i.e., too short, ideal, too long). As a baseline for nonrestorative environments, we measured the perceived restorativeness of the museum lobby and compared it with the perceived restorativeness of the museum, rated after the visit. Overall, the museum was perceived as a restorative environment, and this was not significantly modulated by the objective visit duration. However, the subjective appropriateness of the visit duration significantly predicted the perceived restorativeness of the museum. Specifically, participants who perceived their visit as too long rated the restorativeness of the museum as lower compared with participants who perceived the length of their visit as either too short or ideal. Hence, it is the subjective instead of the objective visiting duration that determines the restorativeness of museums. The findings are discussed in the context of attention restoration theory.

Dyslexia has been linked to timing deficits by previous studies. Here, we investigated specifically two types of implicit temporal adaptation abilities in children with dyslexia, namely the variable foreperiod effect and time-based expectancy. Eighteen children with dyslexia and eighteen typically developing children with ages ranging from 8 to 13 participated. They completed a binary choice reaction time task in which short (1,000 ms) or long (3,000 ms) durations of a visual cue (i.e. foreperiod) predicted with a probability of .9 the direction of a centrally presented arrow. Dyslexic children showed a significantly more pronounced variable foreperiod effect (i.e. responding faster to long foreperiods than to short foreperiods) than normally developing children. However, there were no significant differences between groups in the time-based expectancy effect (i.e. responding differently to likely combinations of foreperiod and target than to unlikely combinations). The results are discussed in the context of time-deficit theories of dyslexia.

Atmosphere can be defined as the affective quality of an environment. Prior research has shown that music can influence how an environment is affectively perceived. In the current study, we systematically examined in three experiments how musical and spatial atmosphere interact and influence the overall valence of the atmosphere. In Experiments 1a (n = 50) and 1b (n = 136), we identified two rooms and two musical pieces that strongly contrast in the valence of perceived atmosphere. In Experiments 2 and 3, 32 participants each were exposed to the four combinations of rooms and music for 10-min periods on two different days. Perceived overall atmosphere was assessed. Musical and spatial valence both significantly affected the experienced overall valence of atmosphere. A significant interaction between music and room showed that making one aspect of a perfectly pleasant overall atmosphere negative had a much stronger effect than making one aspect positive in a totally unpleasant atmosphere. This suggests that pleasant atmospheres are particularly vulnerable, which might be explained by an attentional bias toward negative information. Future research should focus on examining fundamental psychological mechanisms underlying the constitution of perceived atmosphere.

Recent research has shown that humans are able to implicitly adapt to time-transition contingencies in a task-switching paradigm, indicated by better performance in trials where the task transition (switch vs. repetition) is validly predicted by the pre-target interval compared to trials with invalidly predicted transitions. As participants switched between only two different tasks, not only the transition, but also the specific task was predictable; at least indirectly when taking into account the temporally predicted transition in the current trial together with the task in the previous trial. In order to investigate if the time-based expectancy effect for transition in previous studies was due to a specific task preparation or due to an unspecific transition preparation, three different tasks were used in the present study. One of two possible pre-target intervals (500 and 1500 ms) predicted a task switch in the upcoming trial with 90 % probability, whereas the other interval predicted a task repetition with 90 % probability. Results revealed that participants were able to prepare both upcoming repetition as well as switch requirements based on predictive pre-target intervals. This means that humans seem to be able to prepare a task switch in a rather unspecific manner, most likely by inhibiting the task just performed in the previous trial. By suggesting a two-stage preparation model in which switches as well as repetitions benefit both from time-based transition expectancy, although apparently with different cognitive processes being involved, the present study provides important impulses for future research on the cognitive processes underlying human task-switching behavior.

Summary Activities can have substantial impacts on temporal experience. We investigated how the impact of being active develops dynamically over the course of long waiting times. Participants waited in a library building, either sitting passively or walking around actively, for between 60 and 100 minutes. Retrospectively, they reported how different aspects of their temporal experiences developed throughout their wait: duration judgments, passage of time judgments, and general awareness of time. Duration was estimated to be shorter in the passive than in the active condition throughout the wait. In an early phase, the passage of time felt slower and time awareness was felt to be higher in the passive condition. Yet, this difference was resolved over the course of the wait. We conclude that the effects of activity on temporal experiences decrease over longer waiting periods.