Do differences in event descriptions cause differences in duration estimates?

The relationship between the way in which people describe an event and people's estimates of the duration of the event is investigated in three studies. People are told to use different writing styles designed to produce different characteristics. For example, a ‘tabloid’ condition was designed to produce words with higher implied action. Across all three studies, differences among the event descriptions only produced small differences in the duration estimates. These results question the direct causal relation between language use and duration estimates. We discuss these findings in relation to memory reconstruction and eyewitness testimony. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]