Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events

Bibliographic Data

ID9405750
AuthorsNedim Goktepe (0000-0003-4556-8575, Leibniz-Institute for New Materials), Müge Cavdan (0000-0003-3575-3849, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, corresponding author), Knut Drewing (0000-0001-6161-5912, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)
Year2025
Volume257
Pages105043-105043
Publication date2025-05-16
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Psychologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-6918 • E-ISSN: 1873-6297
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105043
PMID40381538
OpenAlexW4410432693
LanguageEN
References cited36

The perceived time can shrink or expand for emotional stimuli. Converging evidence suggests that emotional time distortions are rooted in the emotional states of the timing agents because emotional stimuli can influence the timing of simultaneous neutral events. As emotional states are transitory, we investigated if time modulating emotional states also influence timing of subsequent neutral events. In each trial, we induced different valence and arousal levels by using affective vibrotactile patterns before participants judged the duration of neutral auditory tones. Compared to neutral patterns, affective patterns modulated participants' time perception of the subsequent tones. We observed an interaction between arousal and valence: Pleasant-Low arousal patterns expanded the timing of subsequent neutral events more than Unpleasant-Low arousal patterns while Pleasant and Unpleasant-High arousal led to a similar temporal expansion. Our results indicate time modulating effects of emotional stimuli are due to changed emotional states and influence time perception likely until the underlying state decays

Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Multisensory perception and integration · Neural dynamics and brain function · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Psychology · Social Psychology

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