Study on Relation between Visual Time Perception and Two Factors of Complexity in Architectural Images and Gender

Perceived time can have a significant impact on vital responses to daily activities and behaviors. Studies have shown that the surrounding environment can also affect human perception from time, place or event. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationship between the environment and, more specifically, the architecture and the time perception of individuals. Also, the study of the genders effect, which has been reported in many studies as one of the parameters that affected from the environment and also influencing factors in time perception, has been studied. The research method is causal-comparative. One hundred participants, from available students of different faculties of the Tabriz Islamic Art University, participated in two separate computer experiments. Visual stimuli were architectural images selected with two independent factors of complexity in two levels and the background familiarity of the participants with two levels. Two standard time reproduction tests with a millisecond interval and a time production test of one hundred and twenty seconds simultaneously were utilized in prospective time estimation approach with four visual stimuli. The results analyzed by repeated measures of multivariate analysis and successive LSD test of main effect size. The findings show that individuals judge complicated images significantly longer than simple images. In addition, between factors analysis on the effect of simple and complex images between two sex groups, showed a significant difference. The results obtained in the field of time production and reproduction compared and interpreted with the internal clock, attentional gate and neural coding efficiency theories. Correspondences of findings were more with Eagleman›s neural coding efficiency model in respect of effect of complexity factor on time perception. While the findings on the between factor effect of the gender on the perceived duration, are more consistent with internal clock model. In the end, this study showed and emphasized the necessity to repeat this kind of interdisciplinary studies with more ecological approaches and stimuli closer to real environments to achieve more accurate theoretical framework and findings that are more practical