Book contents
- The Psychology of Human Temporality
- The Psychology of Human Temporality
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 The Nature of Sensation and the Experience of Time Passage
- Chapter 2 Gestalt and the Otherness of Everyday Experience
- Chapter 3 Near and Far in Space and Time
- Chapter 4 Memory With and Without Remembering
- Chapter 5 The Activated Mind
- Chapter 6 The Decay Process
- Chapter 7 The Body in Time
- Chapter 8 An Allometry for Rhythmic Pulse
- Chapter 9 Allometries in Body Energetics
- Chapter 10 The Feeling of Time
- References
- Index
Chapter 6 - The Decay Process
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2025
Book contents
- The Psychology of Human Temporality
- The Psychology of Human Temporality
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 The Nature of Sensation and the Experience of Time Passage
- Chapter 2 Gestalt and the Otherness of Everyday Experience
- Chapter 3 Near and Far in Space and Time
- Chapter 4 Memory With and Without Remembering
- Chapter 5 The Activated Mind
- Chapter 6 The Decay Process
- Chapter 7 The Body in Time
- Chapter 8 An Allometry for Rhythmic Pulse
- Chapter 9 Allometries in Body Energetics
- Chapter 10 The Feeling of Time
- References
- Index
Summary
The idea that activation decay is intimately involved in human temporality is pursued more formally. A close analysis of what kind of thing activation is and how it might decay is conducted through an examination of decay rate equations. A case is made that the rate equation for the negative exponential best captures the notion of activation decay that is implicated in priming and time-based grouping. This leads to a focus on the one parameter that defines the negative exponential, the activation lifetime. The activation lifetime is identified as a kind of valve that regulates the flow of information into the mind. The question that animates the remainder of the book is posed: What aspect of the body, mind, or environment sets the value of the activation lifetime?
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- The Psychology of Human Temporality , pp. 90 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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