Interval Timing Essay

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Interval timing refers to the ability of a person to fit their behaviour to reliable changes in their environment. Assess the evidence for and against the position that interval timing relies on a single biological clock or pacemaker. Make clear whether you support this position or not and detail the rationale on which your support is based. Introduction The issue of interval timing has received considerable attention and come under much debate within the Psychological field, whereby researchers have formulated an array of different theories and ideas to accomplish the most suitable and fitting paradigm for the explanation of this phenomena. The concept of time has been delved into and explored by many, in an attempt to address and unravel the mysteries of interval timing which relates to a person’s ability to fit their behaviour to reliable changes in their environment. Buhusi and Meck (2005) have defined interval timing as our “perception, estimation and discrimination of durations in the range of seconds- to- minutes- to- hours”. Matell and Meck (2000) asserted that interval timing is considered to underlie a diversity of complex behaviours in both humans and other animals. The purpose of this essay is to inspect and examine some of the theories that have accredited the single pacemaker mechanism of timing and to argue that due to the valid and convincing explanations of the multiple- clock hypothesis as well as the recent and up to date advances in neurobiological evidence, that interval timing does not rely solely on a single biological clock or pacemaker. Based upon the evidence, this essay will be for the position that there is not just one central timekeeper serving a large range of durations, and argues that multiple pacemakers exist which can be biologically manipulated. Weber’s law and the single clock hypothesis Contemporary models of time

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