Zapopan, Jalisco; November 22, 2022.- In 2021, the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), opened the call for proposals for Basic and/or Frontier Science: Paradigms and Controversies to allow researchers to evaluate paradigms, hypotheses and theories that allow the understanding of phenomena in various areas of knowledge, financially supporting projects that propose to analyze open access data(online) to provide a new scientific perspective.
This is how Rodrigo Sosa Sánchez, PhD in Behavioral Science from the School of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Universidad PanamericanaD., with the support of Dr. Emmanuel Alcalá of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) and Jonathan J. Buriticá, Associate Professor at the Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones en Comportamiento (CEIC) decided to participate with a project on temporal estimation .
Time estimation
Temporal estimation (or interval estimation) is a psychological phenomenon that refers to the ability to structure our behavior according to the temporal regularities of our environment.
For many authors this is an intriguing phenomenon, since biologically we have receptors to detect light, sound, textures and even chemical substances in order to adapt to our environment, but we lack special receptors to detect the passage of time.
How do we estimate the duration of intervals? The short answer is that we possess some "pacemakers" in the nervous system that allow us to estimate (with some degree of error) the "when" of events occurring around us.
In addition, our own behaviors sometimes also serve as pacemakers to indicate the right time to act; this is because we also have receptors to detect the immediate consequences of our own actions.
How do we estimate time?
Dr. Sosa Sanchez explains that our ability to estimate time is involved in virtually every sphere of our lives. For example, let's imagine that when we drive home we regularly stop at a crossroads when the traffic light is red. If we assume that the duration of the red light is constant, then this is an opportunity to learn (we learn from the regularities of our environment).
In such a situation in order to act effectively we require a chain of two behaviors: (1) look to see if the traffic light has changed to green and then (2) step on the accelerator to continue on our way home. What do we do while waiting for the light to change from red to green? People do a wide variety of things, the fact is that, almost without exception, we will eventually turn to the traffic light to see if it is wise to step on the accelerator or if we should wait a little longer.
"The interesting thing is that as we learn, our errors are probably distributed in a similar way to a Gaussian bell," explains Dr. Sosa. That is, sometimes when we look at the traffic light it may have already changed to green before (we underestimate the passage of time) or it may be a fraction of a second away from changing(we overestimate the passage of time).
The purpose of the project
The spirit of this project, in the doctor's words, is to describe the error correction mechanisms involved in order to have a more accurate estimate of the intervals we regularly encounter. For example, if we take longer to turn to look at the traffic light, we may be honked at by the driver behind us and startled by the sudden noise. Or, again, if we turn too early, we interrupt the leisure activity or digression that was occupying us during the red light.
According to Dr. Sosa, the specific objective is to study beyond the organization of behavior when learning has already culminated, which is what has been studied in greater depth.
Namely, what is of interest is to know the microstructure of error-correction learning and the individual differences in the disposition to learn from these temporal regularities. That is, the moment-to-moment adjustments that individuals make to match the temporal attributes of their environment, as well as the persistent individual traits that distinguish particular individuals.
The support received
Dr. Sosa expresses that the commitment with CONACYT is to elaborate a series of products, among them: to publish a scientific article with the analysis of the data, to participate in conferences and workshops, to create a repository with digital tools for the analysis of behavioral data (see https://github.com/jealcalat/YE AB).
On the other hand, the support received by Universidad Panamericana consists of facilitating the space for Dr. Emmanuel Alcalá, Associate Researcher, who is now head of the project, as well as organizing one of the conferences included in the scientific dissemination itinerary.
Contribute to the understanding of behavior
Similarly, Sosa states: "the conviction to contribute to the understanding of behavior was the impulse that led us to carry out this research, since on many occasions it is necessary to take a step back and take the time to think about things in a different way, usually in an abstract and formalized manner".
"This is a research project in basic science, which is the science that lays the foundation for any field of knowledge, thanks to which we have the principles to build a body of coherent knowledge, reducing our uncertainty about the universe around us," he says.
He also specifies that, in contrast, "frontier science or applied science proposes strategies to intervene on the phenomenon being studied in some problem of today's world. Although the latter attracts much attention, it should be emphasized that there can be no applied science without a robust basic science".
"At the moment, we cannot get ahead of ourselves on the results, as the implementation of the project will consist of decomposing the variance of time-estimated data series of several individuals using hierarchies in terms of units of analysis, moment-by-moment observations within a day or between days," he states.
He also concludes that: "Roughly speaking, one expects to find certain regularities in how behavior is structured given temporal restrictions. What will be interesting will be to find out which of the above-mentioned factors accounts for a larger proportion of the variance. Also, we will identify what proportion of the variance is outside the scope of the factors being proposed, i.e., how much noise there is in the data".
Research Team
Dr. Rodrigo Sosa Sánchez, Researcher in charge of the project.
D. in Behavioral Science, Full Research Professor B of the School of Pedagogy and Psychology, SNI Level I.
UP Campus Guadalajara
Dr. Emmanuel Alcalá, Research Associate.
D. in Behavioral Science, Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Physics, SNI Candidate.
Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO)
Dr. Jonathan J. Buriticá Buriticá, external collaborator.
D. in Behavioral Science, Associate Professor at the Center for Behavioral Studies and Research (CEIC), SNI Level I.
University of Guadalajara
