A model of parallel time estimation

In earlier work, Taatgen, Van Rijn and Anderson (in press) have shown that embedding a simple module that generates temporal information in a more general cognitive architecture explains timing phenomena that were earlier attributed to a hypothesized more complex temporal system. However, the embedded temporal module does not support parallel time estimations, of, for example, two concurrent estimations. Explaining the human capacity of doing multiple time estimations requires either adding additional temporal modules, or assuming higher level processing to strategically use a single timer for parallel timing. This paper presents an experiment and a computational model that show that the latter approach is more plausible for human parallel time estimation.