Performance Operating Characteristics for Spatial and Temporal Discriminations: Common or Separate Capacities?

Resource-sharing between spatial and temporal processing was investigated using dual task methodology to construct performance operating characteristics. Spatial tasks involved discrimination of line length and temporal tasks involved discrimination of duration. Preliminary results suggest that a tradeoff occurs within the easier task of the two difficulty levels, but that a simple tradeoff is not observed at the more difficult level. This pattern of results suggests that the relationship between spatial and temporal perception varies according to difficulty level. That is, the degree to which the processes share common capacities varies as a function of the metrical characteristics of stimuli to be processed.