轉彎數與注意力對兒童及成人之空間距離感與時間感的影響

The Effects of Number of Turns and Attention on the Perceived Distance and Time in Children and Adults

路徑中的環境訊息量與行走時的認知狀態常會影響距離與時間的估計，本研究以路徑中的轉彎數及行走時的專注度為自變項來考驗其對距離感與時間感的影響，對象包括50名平均5歲8個月的兒童，以及60名平均22歲9個月的成人。受試者需於每個嘗試行走長度同為29公尺但轉彎數不同或專注度不同的兩條路徑，並判斷兩條路徑的相對（或絕對）遠近及行走時間長短。結果發現轉彎數愈多，成人愈傾向於認為該段路徑距離較遠、時間較久，而兒童雖認為兩條路徑距離與時間不同，但對哪一路徑距離或行走時間較長則無明顯偏向。行走時注意力轉移至與距離、時間無關的其他事物時，成人會認為該段路徑距離較近、時間較短，兒童則認為該段路徑距離較遠、時間較長。不過，直接考驗距離感與時間感的相關性時，卻僅發現兒童在專注度操弄下兩者的判斷達顯著相關。本文從認知能量的分配來討論環境訊息量與注意力轉移對距離感與時間感的影響，同樣也以認知能量的差異來解釋注意力轉移對成人與兒童的不同影響。

The present study examined the effects of number of turns (0 vs. 5) in a path and participants' attention (focused vs. divided) on their perceived walking distance and walking time. The participants were 50 children from 5 to 6 years old and 60 adults whose average age was 22.75 years. On each trial, the participants had to walk along two 29- meter long paths for 30 seconds (led and controlled by the experimenter). On two trials, the two paths varied with respect to the number of turns. On another two trials, the two paths varied with respect to whether the participants had to simultaneously perform a concurrent digit counting task. At the end of each trial, the participants had to determine which path was longer or of equal length, or which path took longer or equal time to walk. The adult participants had to additionally estimate the distance of the path or the time of walking. Results showed that among the adult participants the path with 5 turns was perceived to have a longer distance and took longer to walk than the path with 0 turn. The path was also perceived to have a longer distance and take longer to walk when the adult participants walked without performing a concurrent cognitive task than when they walked with one. However, the adult participants perceived distance did not correlate significantly with their perceived time. The children also perceived the two paths with different numbers of turns to have different distances and take different amount of time, but they were unable to tell which one was longer or took longer. Contrasted with the adults, the path was perceived by the children to have a shorter distance and take shorter time to walk when they walked without performing a concurrent cognitive task than when they walked with one. The children's perceived distance also correlated significantly with their perceived time. We offered a number of explanations of the results based on the concept of cognitive load and the participants different strategies.