A preliminary investigation on time perception and autonomic self-regulation

Abstract

This study sought to examine how perception of time duration was affected by two autonomic self-regulation treatment procedures: a biofeedback/self-regulation treatment program and a relaxation response treatment program. Time experience was assessed in two ways: time interval estimation during an actual treatment session (N=5, in each of the two groups) and subjective reporting (all 10 subjects in each group were evaluated). During an actual relaxation/self-regulation session, patients overestimated time duration and, retrospectively, patients in the group that learned to reduce blood pressure experienced time as slowing, whereas participants in the other treatment program experienced time as passing “normally” during the treatment sessions. All subjects reported that they usually experienced time as passing “normally” or corresponding to clock time. These results raise the question as to whether the experience of temporal slowing may be an important component of the psychological experience of the patients that allows autonomic learning to occur. Further research in this area is recommended and briefly discussed.