John Gibbon (psychologist)

John Gibbon (1931-2007) was an American psychologist best known for his contributions to the field of mathematical psychology, particularly in the areas of timing and interval timing. He developed a comprehensive model of timing known as Scalar Expectancy Theory (SET), which has been highly influential in understanding how humans and animals perceive and represent time.

Gibbon received his PhD from Harvard University in 1964. He subsequently held positions at Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute before joining the faculty at New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, where he remained for the duration of his career.

Gibbon's Scalar Expectancy Theory posits that subjective duration is represented proportionally to objective duration. This theory proposes that the timing system consists of a pacemaker-accumulator mechanism, a comparator that compares the accumulated time with a stored representation of the expected time, and a decision process that triggers a response based on the comparison. SET has been applied to a wide range of behaviors, including interval timing, temporal discrimination, and duration judgments.

His research also extended to understanding how temporal processing is affected by various factors, including drugs, aging, and neurological disorders. He published extensively on these topics and mentored numerous students who have gone on to make significant contributions to the field of timing.

Gibbon's work has had a profound impact on the understanding of how humans and animals perceive and use time. His Scalar Expectancy Theory remains a cornerstone of research in the field of timing and continues to inspire new investigations into the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying temporal processing.