The Direction Of Mental Time Line:Comparison Between The Horizonal And Vertical Dimension

Joint space-time coding effect(spatial-temporal association of response codes effect,STEARC)or mental time line is a category of cognitive,namely different word denoting time in our hearts the psychological position is different,which have psychological time lines of the horizontal direction,also includes the psychological time vertical line.Previous studies often focus on one dimension(horizontal dimension or vertical dimension);it has also been argued that the STEARC could result from experiment-induced association between the binary set of locations and the time concept.Furthermore,this kind of effect occurs only after target onset.We solved this limitation by employing a search display consisting of four items which the target could appear at any locations on the screen(above,below,left,and right).Mean by,we added additional singleton paradigm,(we add a task of judging the lines' direction in the target at experiment 1,we also add a salient distractor at experiment 2).The experiment 1 design as a two(time words: past;future)×4(target position: up,down,left,right)repeated measures design.Participants were guided to take a target search task and try to figure out the direction of the line in the target.The results shows that there is a strong relationship between the time words and target position.Participant correlate the past words with the left(up)position,and correlate the future meaning words with the right(down)position.The experiment 2 design as a two(time words: past;future)×4(distractor position: up,down,left,right)repeated measures design.Participants were guided to take a target search task and try to figure out the direction of the line in the target,the search task also include a salient distractor.The results shows that there is a strong relationship between the time words and target position.Participant correlate the past words with the left(up)position,and correlate the future meaning words with the right(down)position.And there is an increase of the salient distractor.In experiment 3,participants were guided to take a target search task without the time word,and they are going to figure out the direction of the line in the target,the search task also include a salient distractor.The results shows that the time words facilitated visual selection of items along the horizontal axis or interfered with visual selection of items along the vertical axis.Overall,here are the conclusions of the study:1.The horizontal and vertical mental time line could both appear in one paradigm despite the additional singleton tasks.2.The time words facilitated visual selection of items along the horizontal axis or interfered with visual selection of items along the vertical axis.