L'effetto Tau di Vittorio Benussi come modello di studio del presente fenomenico: nuove prospettive di ricerca per l'esame della percezione del tempo e della personalità

This thesis investigates the concept of psychological time and, in particular, the concept of psychological present. Starting by the studies of the main authors who dealt with these issues, I delved into the relationship that space and time have within the present. The tau effect, a perceptual phenomenon discovered by Vittorio Benussi in 1907, is of particular interest for this field. The tau effect indeed shows that the duration of temporal intervals influences the perception of spatial distances in the sense of “equation” (e.g. briefer temporal intervals corresponded to perceptual shorter spatial distances). Even though this effect has been extensively investigated in the last decades, a conclusive theory doesn’t exist. Five experiments were hence performed to better understand this effect. The main result is that the tau effect could be found only when the Standard Stimulus (i.e. the Stimulus that does not vary during the whole experiment, Ss) is presented as first. Furthermore, results proved that this effect emerged only within the temporal limits of the psychological present (i.e. 2‐3 sec. on average). Since, according to the authors examined in this work, one of the features of present is its flexibility depending on individual differences, the possible correlations between the tau effect and personality traits have been also investigated. Results proved that the way space and time are intertwined is linked to Extroversion and Emotional Stability, as defined by the Big Five model. These results are in line with the literature on time perception. To explain the results about the order of presentation of Ss, an alternative explanation based on the general theories developed by Benussi is discussed. According to this alternative explanation, in our experiments the tau effect occurs only when Ss is presented as first because its temporal interval used is perceived as “indifferent” or “indeterminate”, that is not “long‐” or “short‐lived”. This condition would allow participants to judge only the spatial distances without being influenced by the corresponding temporal intervals of the first stimulus presented.