Perceived Time Slows During Fleeting Fun or Fear

Abstract

Previous psychophysical studies at durations greater than 1,000ms have confirmed the anecdotal reports of an increase in the perceived duration of both positively and negatively-valenced emotive stimuli; however, the results of studies at durations less than 1,000ms have been inconsistent. This study further investigated the effect of valence on the perception of durations less than 1,000ms. We used both positively and negatively-valenced stimuli in order to compare their effects on the distortion of duration and we tested multiple data points within the sub-one second range. We found an increase in the perceived duration of both positively and negatively-valenced emotional stimuli at all data points. This is consistent with studies at durations longer than 1,000ms and also with models of temporal processing. We also confirmed that Weber fractions, within the range tested, followed the generalised form of Weber’s law.