Vertical Mental Timeline Is Not Influenced by VisuoSpatial Processing

Abstract

The results examining the direction (bottom-to-top vs. top-to-bottom) of the mental vertical timeline are not conclusive. The visuospatial processing of temporal stimuli along vertical space could influence this time representation. This study aimed to investigate whether and how the visuospatial processing stage modulated the vertical timeline in an online temporal categorization task. In three studies, Italian university students (N = 150) responded more quickly to words expressing the past with a down arrow key, and more quickly to words expressing the future with an up arrow key, irrespective of whether the words were located in the top, middle, or bottom space (Experiment 1), or were presented downward (from top to bottom; Experiment 2A) or upward (from bottom to top Experiment 2B). These results suggest that the representation of time was not influenced by the visuospatial processing. The daily experience with verticality (e.g., to reach the attic, the lift goes up) could explain the bottom-to-top direction of the mental timeline.