Your tries on the 10-second ruler
How to play
The clock fades out.
In your head, at a steady pace.
Or the space bar. Your time comes back.
It is the 3 second challenge with no clock to lean on.
How accurate is your internal clock?
Schematic, not study data. Longer targets spread your tries over more seconds; as a share of the target the spread shrinks only slowly (Lewis & Miall, 2009).
A constant coefficient of variation is the scalar property of timing, described in animals (Gibbon, 1977). In humans the picture is less tidy, which is one reason there is no single “typical error at 10 s” to quote here.
Does counting in your head help?
Not for accuracy, but for precision: counting did not improve the accuracy of 10 to 90 s productions, but it did make tries more consistent (Thönes & Hecht, 2017).
Schematic, not study data. Same centre, tighter tries: counting improved precision, not accuracy (Thönes & Hecht, 2017). At 60 and 90 s counting also made people overshoot; that disappeared at shorter intervals.
What the studies say, in four cards
Pulse Pass window. ±0.10 s around 10 s.
Pulse game ruleCounting brought no gain in accuracy, but tries were more consistent.
Thönes & Hecht, 2017In animals, spread grows in step with the interval: the scalar property.
Gibbon, 1977Lines are schematic, not study data: none of these sources prints a typical error for a 10 s count.
Tips for the 10 second challenge
Pick a rhythm and keep it steady to the end.
A few tries of the 3 second challenge set your rhythm.
In the time estimation test you judge a gap instead of producing one.
FAQ
How accurate is your internal clock?
It varies, and the error is relative: Lewis & Miall (2009) found the coefficient of variation falls slowly as intervals get longer, from 68 ms to 16.7 min, rather than staying constant (Lewis & Miall, 2009). Your own result is the only number that matters here, so try several runs.
Does counting in your head help?
Not for accuracy: counting did not improve accuracy of 10-90 s productions, but it did improve precision (less spread between attempts) (Thönes & Hecht, 2017). At 60 and 90 s counting also made people overshoot; that disappeared at shorter intervals.
Why is the clock hidden?
Because the test is of your own time sense; with a visible clock you would read it instead.
What is the 10 second challenge?
Start a clock, hide it, and try to stop it at exactly 10.00 s. The closer you stop, the better your internal clock estimate.