Music performance depends critically on precise processing of time. A common model behavior in studies of motor timing is isochronous serial interval production (ISIP), that is, hand/finger movements with a regular beat. ISIP accuracy is related to both music practice and intelligence. Here we present a study of these associations in a large twin cohort, demonstrating that the effects of music practice and intelligence on motor timing are additive, with no significant multiplicative (interaction) effect. Furthermore, the association between music practice and motor timing was analyzed with the use of a co-twin control design using intrapair differences. These analyses revealed that the phenotypic association disappeared when all genetic and common environmental factors were controlled. This suggests that the observed association may not reflect a causal effect of music practice on ISIP performance but rather reflect common influences (e.g., genetic effects) on both outcomes. The relevance of these findings for models of practice and expert performance is discussed.
Attitudes Towards and Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Among Older Adults in Italy and Sweden: the Influence of Cultural Context, Socio-Demographic Factors, and Time Perspective.
This study examined determinants of attitudes towards and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in older adults, including variations in cultural context, socio-demographic factors (age, education, and gender) and the individual's time perspective. Towards this end, 638 older adults in Italy (n?=?262, M?=?71.7 years) and Sweden (n?=?376, M?=?69.9 years) completed the Swedish Time Perspective Inventory (S-ZTPI), the Attitude toward Technologies Questionnaire (ATTQ), and questions regarding use of specific digital technologies (e.g. Internet, Skype, Facebook); data were collected in 2013-2014. The results showed more positive attitudes toward ICTs in Swedish compared with Italian elderly as well as more frequent use of technologies. Regardless of nationality, younger age and higher levels of educational attainment was positively associated with attitudes towards ICTs. Male gender was associated with higher ATTQ scores in the Italian, but not in the Swedish, sample. Time perspective accounted for significant variance beyond the foregoing variables. S-ZTPI Past Negative, Future Negative and Present Fatalistic in particular, were (negatively) related to ATTQ scores, with a similar pattern for ICT use. Future Positive and Present Hedonistic were positively associated with ATTQ scores, across the samples. In conclusion, between-person differences in time perspective organization are an important factor to account for variability in attitudes towards and use of ICTs in old age, and appears to exert an influence over and beyond other significant predictors, such as cultural context, age/cohort membership, and educational level.
Little is known about the psychological mechanisms people employ in adapting to extreme circumstances such as becoming refugees. Case studies of refugees making up part of a sample of 1348 persons relocated from Southeast Asia to Vancouver, British Columbia, suggest that altering one's perception of time may be an adaptive strategy. During periods of acute stress, refugees seem to focus on the present to the relative exclusion of past and future. The reemergence of past and future into consciousness brings about a risk for developing depression. Epidemiological data corroborate inferences from case material, demonstrating that refugees are more present-oriented than the indigenous population. A "Nostalgic" time orientation, preoccupation with the past, is associated with elevated depression scores. Contrasts are drawn between nostalgia, a maladaptive pattern, and memory, which is an inevitable part of the process of personality integration.
Department of Molecular Immunology and Biotechnology, Institute of Physiology of Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Syktyvkar, Russia.
The phase of entrainment (chronotype) is known to be associated with time perspective (TP), suggesting that the state of circadian system is involved in the long-term planning of human life. However, little is known regarding the influence of circadian misalignment on long-term planning ability. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between social jetlag (SJL) and TP. A total of 1064 schoolchildren and university students (mean age ± standard deviation, 19.2 ± 2.9 years; range, 15-25 years; females, 71.7%) from four cities in the Russian Federation located between 56.9 and 61.7 degrees North completed the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire, and Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. Study participants also indicated personal data (age, sex, height weight, place of residence, and achievements). A multiple regression analysis with stepwise inclusion of predictors in the model was performed to evaluate associations between time perspective characteristics (dependent variables) and predictor variables. The change in R2 was used as the measure of effect size. Chronotype was found to be a moderate predictor of future TP (B = 0.034; ?R2 = 0.037). In addition, sleep quality was found to be a moderate predictor of past negative (B = 0.043; ?R2 = 0.074), present fatalistic (B = 0.021; ?R2 = 0.035), and deviation from balanced TP (B = 0.034; ?R2 = 0.066). Mood seasonality was a moderate predictor of present hedonistic TP (B = 0.016; ?R2 = 0.038), and social jetlag was a weak predictor of present fatalistic (B = 0.052; ?R2 = 0.019), future (B = -0.033; ?R2 = 0.004), and deviation from balanced TP (B = 0.047; ?R2 = 0.012). In conclusion, this study found a weak but significant association between social jetlag and TP in adolescents and young adults.
This research examined the effects of a casino's auditory character on estimates of elapsed time while gambling. More specifically, this study varied whether the sound heard while gambling was ambient casino sound alone or ambient casino sound accompanied by music. The tempo and volume of both the music and ambient sound were varied to manipulate temporal engagement and introspection. One hundred and sixty (males = 91) individuals played slot machines in groups of 5-8, after which they provided estimates of elapsed time. The findings showed that the typical ambient casino auditive environment, which characterizes the majority of gaming venues, promotes understated estimates of elapsed duration of play. In contrast, when music is introduced into the ambient casino environment, it appears to provide a cue of interval from which players can more accurately reconstruct elapsed duration of play. This is particularly the case when the tempo of the music is slow and the volume is high. Moreover, the confidence with which time estimates are held (as reflected by latency of response) is higher in an auditive environment with music than in an environment that is comprised of ambient casino sounds alone. Implications for casino management are discussed.
Time, an everyday yet fundamentally abstract domain, is conceptualized in terms of space throughout the world's cultures. Linguists and psychologists have presented evidence of a widespread pattern in which deictic time-past, present, and future-is construed along the front/back axis, a construal that is linear and ego-based. To investigate the universality of this pattern, we studied the construal of deictic time among the Yupno, an indigenous group from the mountains of Papua New Guinea, whose language makes extensive use of allocentric topographic (uphill/downhill) terms for describing spatial relations. We measured the pointing direction of Yupno speakers' gestures-produced naturally and without prompting-as they explained common expressions related to the past, present, and future. Results show that the Yupno spontaneously construe deictic time spatially in terms of allocentric topography: the past is construed as downhill, the present as co-located with the speaker, and the future as uphill. Moreover, the Yupno construal is not linear, but exhibits a particular geometry that appears to reflect the local terrain. The findings shed light on how, our universal human embodiment notwithstanding, linguistic, cultural, and environmental pressures come to shape abstract concepts.
The culture of time in neuropsychological assessment: exploring the effects of culture-specific time attitudes on timed test performance in Russian and American samples.
Cultural differences in time attitudes and their effect on timed neuropsychological test performance were examined in matched non-clinical samples of 100 Russian and American adult volunteers using 8 tests that were previously reported to be relatively free of cultural bias: Color Trails Test (CTT); Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT); Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT); and Tower of London-Drexel Edition (ToL(Dx)). A measure of time attitudes, the Culture of Time Inventory (COTI-33) was used to assess time attitudes potentially affecting time-limited testing. Americans significantly outscored Russians on CTT, SDMT, and ToL(Dx) (p,.05) while differences in RFFT scores only approached statistical significance. Group differences also emerged in COTI-33 factor scores, which partially mediated differences in performance on CTT-1, SDMT, and ToL(Dx) initiation time, but did not account for the effect of culture on CTT-2. Significant effect of culture was revealed in ratings of familiarity with testing procedures that was negatively related to CTT, ToL(Dx), and SDMT scores. Current findings indicated that attitudes toward time may influence results of time limited testing and suggested that individuals who lack familiarity with timed testing procedures tend to obtain lower scores on timed tests.
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Division of Health Care Communication, College of Health Disciplines, The University of British Columbia, 3250-910 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 4E3. atowle@interchange.ubc.ca
Aboriginal people in Canada have poorer health than the rest of the population. Reasons for health disparities are many and include problems in communication between doctor and patient. The objective of this study was to understand doctor-patient communication in Aboriginal communities in order to design educational interventions for medical students based on the needs and experiences of patients.
Experiences of good and poor communication were studied by semi-structured interviews or focus groups with 22 Aboriginal community members, 2 community health representatives and 2 Aboriginal trainee physicians. Transcribed data were coded and subjected to thematic analysis.
Positive and negative experiences of communicating with physicians fell into three broad and interrelated themes: their histories as First Nations citizens; the extent to which the physician was trusted; time in the medical interview.
Aboriginal peoples' history affects their communication with physicians; barriers may be overcome when patients feel they have a voice and the time for it to be heard.
Physicians can improve communication with Aboriginal patients by learning about their history, building trust and giving time.
The purpose of this research was to investigate the potential interaction of conceptual representations and linguistic systems in the process of language acquisition. Language-thought interactions were studied in 80 American, 48 Finnish and 48 Polish preschool children. The research focused on the conceptual and linguistic development of space and time. The spatial and temporal conceptual tasks were designed to measure the transition from experimental to inferential knowledge of space/time representations. In the linguistic domain, comprehension and production tests were used to evaluate the children's capacity to understand mono- and bi-referential location in space and time, where mono-referential location involves a single referent object/event with intrinsic properties (e.g. in/on or past/non-past), and bi-referential location requires two or more referent objects/events and relative perspective (e.g. deictic front/back or before/after). The conceptual and linguistic tests revealed significant changes during the period from two to five years of age, and measures of conceptual development were correlated with measures of linguistic development. As spatial and temporal representations became more structured, children were able to move from mono- to bi-referential location. In a comprehension test, we discovered an interaction of language by dimension. Finnish children found spatial distinctions relatively easy and Polish children found temporal distinctions relatively easy. This interaction was expected on the basis of the relative complexity of the morpho-syntactic coding in the spatial and temporal systems of the two languages. However, the argument relating the timing of acquisition to the transparency versus opacity of the linguistic systems was not supported by the English language comparison. Finally, the Finnish children were relatively better able to accomplish the spatial conceptual tasks as compared to the Polish children. This finding is consistent with a developmental concept of linguistic relativity. In general, the research indicates that spatial and temporal linguistic systems and representational knowledge interact during development with the influence occurring in both directions.
