Effects of emotional valence and arousal on acoustic duration reproduction assessed via the "dual klepsydra model"

We report results of an acoustic duration reproduction task with stimulus duration of 2, 4, and 6s, using 45 emotionally negative, positive, and neutral sounds from the International Affective Digitized Sounds System, in a sample of 31 young healthy participants. To investigate the influence of induced emotions on perceived duration, the effects of emotional modulation were quantified in two ways: (1) via model-free indices (aggregated ratios of reproduced times),and (2) via dual klepsydra model (Dkm)-based estimates of parameters of internal time representation. Both data-analytic approaches reveal an effect of emotional valence/arousal, namely, a significantly longer reproduction response for emotional stimuli than for the neutral stimuli. The advantage of the Dkm-based approach is its ability to disentangle stimulus-related effects, which are represented by "flow intensities," from general effects which are due to the lossy character of temporal integration. We explain the rationale of the Dkm-based strategy and interpret the observed effect within the Dkm-framework as transient increase of internal "flows." This interpretation is in line with recent conceptualizations of an "embodiment" of time where the model-posited flows correspond to the ongoing stream of interoceptive (bodily) neural signals. Neurophysiological findings on correlations between the processing of body signals and the perception of time provide cumulative evidence for this working hypothesis

Intervalové časování a emoční modulace

Bakalářská práce se zaměřuje na individuální percepci času, přesněji na tkzv. "intervalové časování" - tedy na to, jak jedinec dokáže odhadnout dobu určitého časového intervalu v rámci sekund až minut a jak je intervalové časování modulováno emocemi. Vnímání času je ovlivňo- váno mnoha různými faktory, ale emoce se jeví být jako jeden z nejzásadnějších, který může způsobit i značné zkreslení vnímání uplynulého času. V mé bakalářské práci se zaměřuji pře- devším na fyziologické mechanismy emoční modulace. Soustředím se hlavně na pacemakerový a striatální model časování a jeho vztah k emoční modulaci. Klíčová slova: intervalové časování, dopamin, emoce, striatální model časováníThis bachelor thesis focuses on time perception, a field of study pursued extensively by psy- chologists, neuroscientists, and cognitive linguistic researchers. More specifically, this paper will examine the issue of "interval timing" (i.e. an individual's ability to perceive time intervals in seconds or minutes). Time perception is influenced by several factors, of which emotional modulation has been postulated as the most crucial. Examining the physiological mechanisms of emotional modulation and pacemaker-accumulator, the striatal model of time perception along with its role in emotional modulation form the contributions of this thesis. Key words: interval timing, dopamine, emotions, the striatal beat-frequency modelKatedra fyziologieDepartment of PhysiologyPřírodovědecká fakultaFaculty of Scienc

Auditory affective content facilitates time-to-contact estimation of visual affective targets

Reacting to a moving object requires an ability to estimate when a moving object reaches its destination, also referred to as the time-to-contact (TTC) estimation. Although the TTC estimation of threatening visually moving objects is known to be underestimated, the effect of the affective content of auditory information on visual TTC estimation remains unclear. We manipulated the velocity and presentation time to investigate the TTC of a threat or non-threat target with the addition of auditory information. In the task, a visual or an audiovisual target moved from right to left and disappeared behind an occluder. Participants’ task was to estimate the TTC of the target, they needed to press a button when they thought that the target contacted a destination behind the occluder. Behaviorally, the additional auditory affective content facilitated TTC estimation; velocity was a more critical factor than presentation time in determining the audiovisual threat facilitation effect. Overall, the results indicate that exposure to auditory affective content can influence TTC estimation and that the effect of velocity on TTC estimation will provide more information than presentation time

The time loss effect in gaming: an exploration of gamers' time perception from a dual-process perspective

Gaming Disorder has been included in the 11th revision of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases as a recurrent gaming behaviour with a lack of control from the gamer. One important aspect of gaming disorder, and gaming in general, is the time loss effect which can be defined as the underestimation of the time spent on an activity (i.e., gaming in this case). Since this process may lead the gamers to experience multiple negative consequences (e.g., conflicts with education and occupation, relationship problems, etc.) due to the increased time spent on videogames, the main objective of this thesis was to explore a potential underlying mechanism of time loss: time perception. This thesis contributed to knowledge by (i) systematically reviewing the variables commonly associated with both gaming (i.e., healthy and disordered) and time perception, allowing a deeper understanding of these two variables’ interaction; (ii) testing the Dual-Process Contingency Model of time perception within durations above one minute; (iii) testing both the prospective and retrospective time perception of the gamers in comparison to non-gamers in a neutral setting; and (iv) testing how emotion and cognition affect the gamers’ retrospective time perception. The new primary data from this thesis were collected using quantitative approaches, utilizing both experimental (i.e., computer tasks) and psychometric (i.e., online survey) data collection. These data from three experimental studies and one psychometric study were analysed through multiple types of analysis such as ANOVAs, regressions, or general linear models. The results first indicated that the Dual-Process Contingency Model of time perception, unifying RTP and PTP, was not valid for longer time durations. Second, the results showed that the gamers exhibited a better PTP (but a similar RTP) than non-gamers when estimating time in a neutral setting. However, the gamers underestimated time when processing gaming pictures, this effect being stronger when the task to complete was more complicated. In conclusion, it appears from the studies carried out that the reason underlying the observed time loss effect experienced by gamers was impaired retrospective time perception occurring when aroused by gaming stimuli