Interval Estimation Task
Background
The Interval Estimation Task (IET) is a simple implicit behavioral measure of the sense of agency that asks participants to estimate the time interval between a voluntary action (e.g. a button press) and a resulting outcome (e.g. a tone). The task leverages the temporal illusion known as 'intentional binding' which happens when our brain 'binds together' a voluntary action (like a button press) and its resulting external sensory event (like a tone), making them feel closer together than they truly are. This subjective compression of time is interpreted as a sense of agency and feeling of control. (Also check out the Wundt Clock paradigm on the Intentional Binding effect).
Rubina A. Malik and Sukhvinder S. Obhi used the IET in 2019 to study the impact of social exclusion on people's sense of agency. They could show that participants primed for feelings of social exclusion showed less underestimation of true time interval estimations than participants primed for feelings of social inclusion. These results support the thesis that social exclusion diminishes one's sense of control.
Task Procedure
Participants are asked to press the spacebar at time of their choosing (voluntary action) which triggers the playing of a short beep with various onset delays (100,400,700ms). Participants then estimate the time interval (in ms) between the key press and the onset of the tone and enter their response into a provided textbox.
After working through one demo trial to get familiarized with the procedure, participants work through one block of 30 trials testing each of the 3 time intervals 10 times. The order of the intervals is determined randomly. Each trial presents a blank (white) screen and waits for a spacebar press. If no response is registered within 5000ms, a response reminder is presented for 1000ms. The spacebar press triggers the delay onset sampled for the current trial. Once the 100ms-long tone has played and after an additional delay of 100ms, the textbox appears and participant are asked to enter their estimation value.
What it Measures
The Interval Estimation Task (IET) is an implicit measure of a sense of agency
Psychological domains
- Time Estimation: How we estimate the duration and timing of events
- Sense of Agency: Using "intentional binding" to quantify how much control a person feels over their actions
Main Performance Metrics
- Mean Interval Estimation: The mean interval estimation (in ms) across all time delays as a the main measure of agency
Psychiatric Conditions
The following patient groups tend to show atypical results in temporal binding
- Schizophrenia
- Major Depressive Disorder
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
The Interval Estimation Task is a simple measure of sense of agency. It leverages the temporal illusion known as 'intentional binding' (Malik & Obhi, 2019). Intentional Binding = people tend to perceive the temporal interval between a voluntary action and its effect to be shorter than the same interval when it separates an involuntary action and effect. Malik & Obhi (2019), e.g., used the Interval Estimation Task to show that social exclusion impacted people's sense of agency.
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Interval Estimation Task.
Malik, R. A., & Obhi, S. S. (2019). Social exclusion reduces the sense of agency: Evidence from intentional binding. Consciousness and Cognition, 71, 30–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2019.03.004
Vogel, D. H. V., Jording, M., Esser, C., Weiss, P. H., & Vogeley, K. (2021). Temporal binding is enhanced in social contexts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28(5), 1545–1555. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-01928-7
Niu, N., Wu, Y., Li, H., Li, M., Yang, D., Fan, W., & Zhong, Y. (2023). Influence of voluntary action and outcome valence on the sense of agency. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17, 1206858. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1206858