Abstract
Time perception can be distorted by emotional stimuli. The present study aims to investigate the effect of disgust on time perception in young adults. Here, we report two experiments in which a time bisection task was used with intervals lasting 400 ms (short standard) to 1600 ms (long standard). In Experiment 1, temporal intervals were marked by neutral images or images from food (rotten, joyful), and facial (disgust, happy) categories. In Experiment 2, disgust-eliciting and neutral stimuli belonging to seven different domains were used: faces, food, animals, body products, injury/infections, death and hygiene. Results showed temporal overestimations when, compared to neutral conditions, disgusted faces (Experiments 1 and 2) and disgusting death and hygiene stimuli (Experiment 2) were used, and a temporal underestimation when images of rotten food (Experiment 1) were used. Results are discussed in terms of arousal-based and attention-based processes and showed that the degree of the emotional component influences time perception.
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Notes
It cannot be excluded that the neutral grey circle was less disgusting than the disgusting scenes, and thus was less arousing. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for pointing out this possibility.
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The information in this manuscript and the manuscript itself has never been published either electronically or in print. There are no financial or other relationships that could be interpreted as a conflict of interest affecting this manuscript. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency from either the commercial or the not-for-profit sectors. This work was carried out within the scope of the project "use-inspired basic research", for which the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padova has been recognized as "Dipartimento di Eccellenza" by the Ministry of University and Research. The authors gratefully acknowledge Gaia Germano and Valerie De Sabato for their help in collecting data and Giovanna Stornati for her help with English editing. Each author has approved the final version of the manuscript and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
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There are no financial or other relationships that could be interpreted as a conflict of interest affecting this manuscript. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency from either the commercial or the not-for-profit sectors. This work was carried out within the scope of the project "use-inspired basic research", for which the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padova has been recognized as "Dipartimento di Eccellenza" by the Ministry of University and Research.
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Mioni, G., Grondin, S. & Stablum, F. Do I dislike what you dislike? Investigating the effect of disgust on time processing. Psychological Research 85, 2742–2754 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01425-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01425-x