The Effects of Emotion and Expectation on Time Perception
Tue-A6-Talk V-03
Presented by: Aslan Karaaslan
The expectation of an event sometimes feels last longer or shorter in duration. Temporal distortions might be increasing, especially if there are not enough cues for when or how likely an event will occur. Emotional aspects of an expected event may also play a modulating role in temporal distortions. From this perspective, this research examined the effect of temporal and probabilistic uncertainty on the temporal judgment of emotional and neutral stimuli. In Experiment 1, subjective time perception was tested at three levels of temporal uncertainty by manipulating the onset of the emotional or neutral picture after a cue. The results revealed that the duration of earlier presented stimuli was underestimated while the later presented stimuli were overestimated. In Experiment 2, temporal distortions were tested at three probabilistic uncertainty levels by manipulating the probability of delivering the emotional or neutral picture after a cue. According to the probabilistic uncertainty results, the temporal overestimation effect was observed in the low expectation while the underestimation effect in the high expectation. However, in both experiments, uncertainty did not reveal a differential effect for emotional and neutral stimuli. The opposing effects of temporal and probabilistic uncertainty on time perception are discussed on the basis of attentional mechanisms and arousal effects.
Keywords: temporal uncertainty, probabilistic uncertainty, predictability, emotion, time perception