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The Oddball Effect on Time Perception

The Oddball Effect on Time Perception

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Science Fair Project Description

The Odd Ball Effect describes phenomena where the duration of an unexpected observation, appears to be longer than if the observation was expected. Imagine a row of green blinking lights. You observe the lights and estimate that the lights appear and last for intervals of two seconds. While you are observing the lights, a single red light blinks unexpectedly. You will most likely estimate that the the red light displays for a longer duration than that of the green lights, even though the red light has the same duration as the green lights. In this science fair project, you will test the Odd Ball Effect on the participants viewing the slide show.
Complexity level:5
Time required:Additional time is required for recruiting participants and preparing materials.
Safety concerns:

Overview

The oddball effect provides studies in cognition as it relates to how we respond to novel stimuli, be it visual or auditory in nature and this information has been used in research for the treatment of schizophrenia. When we encounter a novel situation, our attention toward that situation becomes distorted in various ways, including duration of time. It is interesting to know that whilst the Odd Ball Effect is experienced by a person, the person will display certain physical characteristics, including the dilation of his or her pupils.

Scientific Terms

Odd Ball Effect, Contrast, Perception

Materials

  • Computer equipped with PowerPoint or a slide projector
  • 15-20 slides depicting a specific theme (See "experimental procedures").
  • One Odd Ball slide (See "experimental procedures").
  • Digital camera or internet access
  • Scanner (optional)
  • 5 participants
  • Note pad

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Procedure

Pre-experiment

  1. Set up a slide show consisting of 15-20 slides. Be sure that all slides depict a common theme. Examples of themes are:
    1. Nature scenes
    2. Wildlife
    3. Pets
    4. Birds
    5. Babies
    6. Cars
    7. Food
    8. Landscapes
  2. Slides can be made through the use of digital cameras or accessing pictures from the internet. Additionally, you can use a scanner to digitize pictures from magazines.
  3. Include one Odd Ball slide, a slide that does not fit the theme of other slides (Example: The theme of the slides is birds but the Odd Ball slide is of a fancy car).
  4. Insert the Odd Ball slide toward the end of the slide show but not at the very end.
  5. Set the slide show to switch slides every 2-3 seconds.
  6. Record the time set for comparison with the participants? estimates.

Conducting the experiment

  1. Run the experiment with one participant at a time.
  2. After viewing the slide show, ask the participant if the Odd Ball slide appeared for a longer duration than the other slides.
  3. Ask the participant to estimate for how long the Odd Ball slide appeared.
  4. Record the information.
  5. Compare the participant?s time with the times estimated by the other participants.
  6. Was the Odd Ball effect demonstrated in your experiment?

References

OddBall Effect on the National Geographic Channel

Related video

These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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