UserPerceptionofTime:InteractionsbetweenVisualStimulusandLinguisticConstructs

JessieSalas

Timeisabstract.Inordertoperceiveitinadescribableway,languageshavedeveloped
metaphorswhichencodeanexperienceoftimeintermsofobservablephysicalstructures,whichvary
acrosscultures.InEnglish,forinstance,numerousstudies haveshownthatspeakersformahorizontal
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representationoftime,andmoreover,periodsoftimerepresentedinthiswayarequantifiedusinglanguage
reminiscentofthesamemeasurementsusedtoquantifyphysicallength(i.e.theaudienceapplaudedfora
longtime,oritwasashortmeeting).Thismethodofusinglanguageasamediumtomaprelationships
fromaneasilyperceivableconcretesourcetoamoreabstracttargetdomaininanefforttobetter
understandandcommunicatethelatter,hasbeenextensivelyexploredbyGeorgeLakoff ,asaprocesshe
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callsconceptualmetaphor.Thisisshowntocreateaconceptualblendingofboththesourceandtarget
domains,andresultsinalinguisticrelativitydescribedbytheSapirWhorfhypothesis astheideathatthe
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structureandcontentofthelanguageweusetodescribeanexperienceinfluenceshowweperceive
theexperienceitself.

Thispaperexploreshowdifferentkindsofvisualstimuliintheformofloadinganimationsaffect
anindividualsperceptionofelapsedtime,andhowlinguisticconstructssuchasconceptualmetaphor
mightofferanexplanationoftheseeffects.

MethodsandDesign

Thestudyconsistedofasamplesizeof108maleandfemaleUCBerkeleyundergraduate
participants,ofwhich90listedtheirnativelanguageasEnglish,and18forwhichEnglishwasasecond
language.Participantsweretoldtheywouldbeshownanimage,butwouldhavetowaitthroughaloading
animationbeforetheimageappeared,andwereafterwardsaskedtoquantifytheamountoftimetheyfelt
theimagetooktoload,with1beinginstantand100beingthemostextremeamountpossible.The
participantswererandomlysplitintotwogroups,eachgivenadifferentwordingofthequestion.Version1
asked,Onascaleof1to100,howmuchtimedidyoufeeltheloadinganimationtooktocompletebefore
theimagewasdisplayed?(with1labeledasitwasimmediateand100labeledittooktoomuch),while
version2asked,Onascaleof1to100,howlongdidyoufeeltheloadinganimationtooktocomplete
beforetheimagewasdisplayed?(with1labeledasitwasimmediateand100labeledittooktoo
long).Beyondthissplit,thereweretwodifferentanimationsshowedtoeveryparticipant,displayedina
randomsequencetopreventthestatisticaleffectsofanorderbiasthatmightarisefromparticipantsbeing
shownoneanimationfirst(itmightbe,forinstance,thatindividualsconsistentlyratethefirstanimation
theyareshownastakingmoretimethanthesecond).Oneloadinganimationwasawhitehorizontalbaron
ablackbackgroundgrowingfromlefttoright.Theotheranimationwasawhitecirclewhichgrew
clockwiseoverablackbackground.Itwasaftereachoftheseanimationsthattheparticipantswere
askedtheirrespectiveversionsofthequestion.Carewastakeninthedesignoftheanimationssothatthe
circularbarandhorizontalbargrewthesamedistanceandspeedinthesameamountoftime.
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Studiesinclude:Boroditsky,2000,2008Boroditsky&Ramscar,2002Calbris,1990Casasanto,2008,2009Chan&Bergen,2005Cienki,1998Cooperrider&Nez,2009Fuhrman&
Boroditsky,2010Gentner,Imai,&Boroditsky,2002Gevers,Reynvoet,&Fias,2003Ishihara,Keller,Rossetti,&Prinz,2008Miles,Nind,&Macrae,2010Nez,Motz,&Teuscher,2006
Nez&Sweetser,2006Ouelletetal.,2010Santiago,Lupiez,Prez,&Funes,2007Torralbo,Santiago,&Lupianez,2006Tverskyetal.,1991Weger&Pratt,2008
(ThislisttakenfromDoEnglishandMandarinspeakersthinkabouttimedifferently?,Boroditsky2010)

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Specifically,inMetaphorsWeLiveBy,Lakoff1980,inadditiontomuchofhisotherliterature

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FromtheideasofEdwardSapirandBenjaminLeeWhorfinexploringlinguisticdeterminismandtheprincipleoflinguisticrelativity.TheSapirWhorfhypothesiswasactuallyneverstated
asahypothesisbyLeenorShapir,whonevercoauthoredanything.
Accordingly,thefinaldimensionsofthehorizontalbarwere650pxX40px,andthefinalcircumferenceof
thecircularbarwas650px,forminganOwithathicknessof40px.Bothanimationslastedatotalof7
seconds,andtheimagethatwasshownupontheircompletionwasafreelylicensedphotographofMt.
EveresttakenfromtheWikimediaCommonswhichshouldhavenostatisticaleffectontheresponses.The
purposeoftheshownimagewastobettersimulateauserswaittimeexperience,wheretheloading
animationisnottheentirefocus,ratheranintermediarysteptowardsthegoal,whichismostoftentoview
somesortofcontent.Toensurereliabilityofthedata,responsesfromindividualswhogaveanswers
beforetheimageappearedwereautomaticallyremoved,andresponsesfromduplicateIPaddresseswere
notaccepted.

Results

Thedataissummarizedbytables1and2.Stillimagesofthecircleandhorizontalbaranimations
midprogressareprovidedforreferenceinfiguresAandB.

TABLE1:EnglishasPrimaryLanguage
FigureA.CIRCLE
ShapeQuantificationResponseAvg.ResponseSD
CIRCLE Howlong? 42.28 29.79
HORIZONTALBAR Howlong? 39.74 26.44
CIRCLE Howmuch? 39.66 28.57
HORIZONTALBAR Howmuch? 38.41 29.33

TABLE2:EnglishasSecondaryLanguage
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FigureB.HORIZONTALBAR
ShapeQuantificationResponseAvg.ResponseSD
CIRCLE Howlong? 45.89 26.25
HORIZONTALBAR Howlong? 40.82 22.14
CIRCLE Howmuch? 33.00 25.89
HORIZONTALBAR Howmuch? 37.00 32.67

Analysis,Critique,andDiscussion
ThenativeEnglishspeakersratedtheCIRCLEastakinggreatertimetocompleteinallcases,
resultingin~5%greaterratingwhencomparedtotheHORIZONTALBAR.Asabreakdownviaboth
wordingcases,participantsratingsofthecirclewere~6%higherwhenaskedhowlongvsonly~3%
higherwhenaskedhowmuch.Averagedacrossbothanimations,theEnglishnativespeakersgave
ratingsof~5%higherwhenaskedtojudgehowlongascomparedtohowmuch.Thisresultappears
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Theprimarylanguagesoftheseindividualsareasfollows:1Farsi,1Bosnian,4Chinese,1Russian,1Vietnamese,1French,4Korean,1Tagalog,2Spanish,1Hebrew,1Fujian
Dialect.
counterintuitive,asonemightexpecttheHORIZONTALBARtoberatedasmorelongduetoits
greaterwidthwithinthevisualfield.Anotherfactorthatmighthaveaneffectisthesimilarityofthe
CIRCLEtotheclockwisemotionofananalogclock,oritcouldbethatthemorecomplexcircularmotion
ismorestimulatingthanhorizontalmotion,andthatcausesperceptionofgreatertimespaninsomeway.
Withmoretimeandresources,onecouldexploreamultitudeofdifferentcases,includingtheeffectsof:

Inclusionofaverticalbaranimation ,
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Reversedirectionsofmotionforallanimations
i.e.counterclockwisemotion,righttoleftgrowthofthehorizontalbar,
Inclusionofprogressivelymorecomplexshapes
Sinusoidalorfigure8motion
Animationsthatcalluponotherconceptualmetaphors,suchasonedescribedbyLakoffasTIME=CURRENCY
Figureswithanimationsthatresemblecontainersbeingfilled
Whatdoesthatdotothehowmuch?question?
DifferentcasesinvolvingquestionsforbilingualparticipantsinbothEnglishaswellastheirnativelanguages.Thiswill
explorethequestionofwhethertheprimarilylearnedmetaphorshapesthought,regardlessofquestioninglanguage,or
whetherthequestioninglanguageshapesthoughtregardlessofprimarilylearnedmetaphor.
Anevenmorerealisticbrowsingsimulationmorereminiscentofaproducttesting
focusgroup,whereallloadinganimationsofafullyfunctioningapplicationorwebsitearereplacedandgiventothe
differentcasegroups.

Althoughtheexploredresultsseemtopointinapromisingdirection,itisnotentirelyconclusivethat
thisrelationshipisnotasimplestatisticalcoincidence.Agreaterspanintheaverageresponsetimesis
necessaryinordertoclaimanysignificance.Furthermore,morepreciselycontrolledconditionsinalab
situationwithmoreparticipantswillmakeresultsmoreconsistentandconclusive.Adifficultyin
administeringthisstudyasanonlinesurvey,asitwasinthiscase,isthatthereisnocontroloverausers
internetconnectionspeed.Ifaparticipantexperiencesadditionalloadingtimeduetoaslowconnection,
thiswillcreateanunstableresponse.
ThesummaryoftheEnglishasasecondarylanguagedataisincludedhere,butoneshouldnot
drawconclusionsfromit,asthereareveryfewrespondents(only9percase),andtheycomefrom
differentlanguagebackgroundswhichmayhavelanguagequantificationmetaphorsinconsistentwitheach
other.Inmorenumericallysoundsampling,thisdatawouldbeavitalcomparison,providingmeaningful
insightsintothecrosslinguisticeffectsofthevisualstimuli.

Althoughthisstudyproducedinterestingresultswhichhintedtowardsaneffectfromconceptualmetaphor,
itisclearthatoneormorefollowupstudiesarenecessarytoproperlyentertaintheideaofloading
animationseffectontimeperception.
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inDoEnglishandMandarinspeakersthinkabouttimedifferently?,LeraBoroditskyexploredverticalandhorizontalvisualstimulus,andfoundthatnativeEnglishspeakersconceptualized
timebestasahorizontalrepresentation,whileMandarinspeakersrespondedbesttoprimingfromaverticalstimulus.Onecouldextendonherworkbyexploringthefunctionsofthese
primesinthecontextofuserexperience.