Staddon, J. E. R., Higa, J. J., & Chelaru, I. M. (1999).
Time, trace, memory.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
71, 293-301.
Objections to a trace hypothesis for interval timing do not apply
to the multiple-time-scale (MTS) theory, which incorporates a
dynamic trace tuned by the system history and can easily
accommodate interval timing over a 1,000:1 range. The MTS model
can also account for Weber's law as well as systematic deviations
from it. Contrary to our critics, we contend that patterns of
variance in interval timing experiments are not fully described
by scalar expectancy theory, and that attempting to understand
timing by assigning variance to different elements of a flexible
model that lacks inductive support is a flawed strategy, because
the attempt may be successful even if the model is wrong. We
further argue that biological plausibility is an unreliable guide
to the development of behavioral theory, that prediction is not
the same as test, that induction should precede deduction, and
that a rat is not a clock.
Key words: interval, habituation, dynamics, multiple time scale,
scalar expectancy theory, rat, pigeon