Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Modulations in the Experience of Duration

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Illusions of Time

Abstract

The subjective experience of duration varies considerably depending upon fluctuating mental states. When feeling bored, time seems to slow down, and duration expands. When we are entertained, time passes quickly. We propose that felt time is modulated together with the awareness of the bodily self. Regarding inter-individual differences in the perception of time, we recently showed that individuals with higher levels of self-reported impulsivity felt more irritated in a waiting situation and in turn overestimated its duration. Regarding intra-individual differences, we showed that silence after body-related depth relaxation led to longer duration estimates than the same period of silence following a seminar. Our studies concerning longer duration in the minute range are paradigmatic as the ecologically valid situations are sensitive to inter- and intra-individual variations in subjective time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baumann, A. A., & Odum, A. L. (2012). Impulsivity, risk taking, and timing. Behavioral Processes, 90, 408–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkovich-Ohana, A., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2013). Alterations in the sense of time, space, and body in the mindfulness-trained brain: A neurophenomenologically-guided MEG study. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 912.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkovich-Ohana, A., & Glicksohn, J. (2014). The consciousness state space—A unifying model for consciousness and self. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block, R. A. (1979). Time and consciousness. In G. Underwood & R. Stevens (Eds.), Aspects of consciousness (Vol. 1, pp. 179–217). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25, 49–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buhusi, C. V., Oprisan, S. A., & Buhusi, M. (2018). Biological and cognitive frameworks for a mental timeline. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12, 377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buzsáki, G. (2006). Rhythms of the brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cellini, N., Mioni, G., Levorato, I., Grondin, S., Stablum, F., & Sarlo, M. (2015). Heart rate variability helps tracking time more accurately. Brain and Cognition, 101, 57–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, A. D. (2009). Emotional moments across time: A possible neural basis for time perception in the anterior insula. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 1933–1942.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, A. D. (2015). How do you feel? An interoceptive moment with your neurobiological self. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Csikszentmihalyi, I. S. (1988). Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Danckert, J. A., & Allman, A. A. A. (2005). Time flies when you’re having fun: Temporal estimation and the experience of boredom. Brain and Cognition, 59, 236–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Decker-Voigt, H.-H. (2007). Methodology of music therapy and depth relaxation (DRMT). In I. Frohne-Hagemann (Ed.), Zeitpunkt Musik. Receptive music therapy: Theory and practice (pp. 239–251). Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deinzer, V., Clancy, L., & Wittmann, M. (2017). The sense of time while watching a dance performance. SAGE Open, 7(4), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dirnberger, G., Hesselmann, G., Roiser, J. P., Preminger, S., Jahanshahi, M., & Paz, R. (2012). Give it time: Neural evidence for distorted time perception and enhanced memory encoding in emotional situations. Neuroimage, 63, 591–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Droit-Volet, S., Fanget, M., & Dambrun, M. (2015). Mindfulness meditation and relaxation training increases time sensitivity. Consciousness and Cognition, 31, 86–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Droit-Volet, S., & Gil, S. (2009). The time-emotion paradox. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, 1943–1954.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Droit-Volet, S., Monceau, S., Berthon, M., Trahanias, P., & Maniadakis, M. (2018). The explicit judgment of long durations of several minutes in everyday life: Conscious retrospective memory judgment and the role of affects? PLoS One, 13, e0195397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fink, M., Ulbrich, P., Churan, J., & Wittmann, M. (2006). Stimulus-dependent processing of temporal order. Behavioural Processes, 71, 344–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, S. N., Minati, L., Gray, M. A., Seth, A. K., Dolan, R. J., & Critchley, H. D. (2014). Fear from the heart: Sensitivity to fear stimuli depends on individual heartbeats. Journal of Neuroscience, 34, 6573–6582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelernter, D. (2016). The tides of mind. Uncovering the spectrum of consciousness. New York: Liveright.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golombek, D. A., Bussi, I. L., & Agostino, P. V. (2014). Minutes, days and years: Molecular interactions among different scales of biological timing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 369, 20120465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabot, L., & van Wassenhove, V. (2017). Time order as psychological bias. Psychological Science, 28, 670–678.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hölzel, B. K., Lazar, S. W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z., Vago, D. R., & Ott, U. (2011). How does mindfulness work? Proposing mechanisms of action from a conceptual and neural perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 537–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jokic, T., Zakay, D., & Wittmann, M. (2018). Individual differences in self-rated impulsivity modulate the estimation of time in a real waiting situation. Timing & Time Perception, 6, 71–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kononowicz, T. W., & van Rijn, H. (2015). Single trial beta oscillations index time estimation. Neuropsychologia, 75, 381–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, R. S. S., Weger, U. W., & Sharma, D. (2013). The effect of mindfulness meditation on time perception. Consciousness and Cognition, 22, 846–852.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthias, E., Schandry, R., Duschek, S., & Pollatos, O. (2009). On the relationship between interoceptive awareness and the attentional processing of visual stimuli. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 72, 154–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meissner, K., & Wittmann, M. (2011). Body signals, cardiac awareness, and the perception of time. Biological Psychology, 86, 289–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merchant, H., Harrington, D. L., & Meck, W. H. (2013). Neural basis of the perception and estimation of time. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 36, 313–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreira, D., Pinto, M., Almeida, F., & Barbosa, F. (2016). Time perception deficits in impulsivity disorders: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 27, 87–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, A. K., Berger, J., Tucha, O., & Falter, C. M. (2014). Selective impairment of timing functions in non-clinical impulsiveness. Timing & Time Perception, 2, 20–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Münsterberg, H. (1889). Beiträge zur experimentellen Psychologie, Heft 2. Freiburg: J.C.B. Mohr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nobre, K., & Coull, J. (2010). Attention and time. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Northoff, G. (2014). Unlocking the brain volume 2: Consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Otten, S., Schötz, E., Wittmann, M., Kohls, N., Schmidt, S., & Meissner, K. (2015). Psychophysiology of duration estimation in experienced mindfulness meditators and matched controls. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pavlov, I. (1928). Conditioned reflexes. An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex. London: Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedrosa, D. J., Nelles, C., Maier, F., Eggers, C., Burghaus, L., Fink, G. R., … Timmermann, L. (2016). Variance of essential tremor patients’ time reproduction deficits. Movement Disorders, 31, 1428–1429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeifer, E., Sarikaya, A., & Wittmann, M. (2016). Changes in states of consciousness during a period of silence after a session of depth relaxation music therapy (DRMT). Music and Medicine, 8(4), 180–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollatos, O., Laubrock, J., & Wittmann, M. (2014). Interoceptive focus shapes the experience of time. PLoS One, 9(1), e86934.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollatos, O., Yeldesbay, A., Pikovsky, A., & Rosenblum, M. (2014). How much time has passed? Ask your heart. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 8, 15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Retz Lucci, C. (2013). Time, self, and intertemporal choice. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, 40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roenneberg, T., Daan, S., & Merrow, M. (2003). The art of entrainment. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 18, 183–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schäfer, T., Fachner, J., & Smukalla, M. (2013). Changes in the representation of space and time while listening to music. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shanon, B. (2001). Altered temporality. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8, 35–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Studerus, E., Gamma, A., Kometer, M., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2012). Prediction of psilocybin response in healthy volunteers. PLoS One, 7(2), e30800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todes, D. P. (2014). Ivan Pavlov. A Russian life in science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turel, O., & Bechara, A. (2016). A triadic reflective-impulsive-interoceptive awareness model of general and impulsive information system use: Behavioral tests of neuro-cognitive theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 601.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaitl, D., Birbaumer, N., Gruzelier, J., Jamieson, G. A., Kotchoubey, B., Kübler, A., … Sammer, G. (2005). Psychobiology of altered states of consciousness. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 98–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Wassenhove, V. (2016). Temporal cognition and neural oscillations. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 8, 124–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wackermann, J., Meissner, K., Tankersley, D., & Wittmann, M. (2014). Effects of emotional valence and arousal on acoustic duration reproduction assessed via the ‘dual klepsydra model. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 8, 11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watt, J. D. (1991). Effect of boredom proneness on time perception. Psychological Reports, 69, 323–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wearden, J. H. (2015). Passage of time judgments. Consciousness and Cognition, 38, 165–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiner, L., Wittmann, M., Bertschy, G., & Giersch, A. (2016). Dispositional mindfulness and subjective time in healthy individuals. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 786.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M. (2013). The inner sense of time: How the brain creates a representation of duration. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14, 217–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M. (2015). Modulations of the experience of self and time. Consciousness and Cognition, 38, 172–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M. (2016). Felt time. The science of how we experience time. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M. (2018). Altered states of consciousness: Experiences out of time and self. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., Dinich, J., Merrow, M., & Roenneberg, T. (2006). Social jetlag: Misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiology International, 23, 497–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., & Meissner, K. (2018). The embodiment of time: How interoception shapes the perception of time. In M. Tsakiris & H. de Preester (Eds.), The interoceptive mind—From homeostasis to awareness (pp. 63–79). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., & Paulus, M. (2016). How the experience of time shapes decision-making. In M. Reuter & C. Montag (Eds.), Neuroeconomics. Studies in neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics series (pp. 133–144). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., & Paulus, M. P. (2008). Decision making, impulsivity, and time perception. Trends in Cognitive Science, 12, 7–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., & Schmidt, S. (2014). Mindfulness meditation and the experience of time. In S. Schmidt & H. Walach (Eds.), Meditation–neuroscientific approaches and philosophical implications (pp. 199–209). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., Simmons, A. N., Aron, J. L., & Paulus, M. P. (2010). Accumulation of neural activity in the posterior insula encodes the passage of time. Neuropsychologia, 48, 3110–3120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., Simmons, A. N., Flagan, T., Lane, S. D., Wackermann, J., & Paulus, M. P. (2011). Neural substrates of time perception and impulsivity. Brain Research, 1406, 43–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zakay, D. (2014). Psychological time as information: The case of boredom. Frontiers Psychology, 5, 917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-difference metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1271–1288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Germany

    Marc Wittmann

  2. School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Tijana Jokic

  3. Catholic University of Applied Sciences Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Eric Pfeifer

Authors
  1. Marc Wittmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tijana Jokic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eric Pfeifer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc Wittmann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Valtteri Arstila

  2. Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Adrian Bardon

  3. University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Sean Enda Power

  4. Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece

    Argiro Vatakis

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Wittmann, M., Jokic, T., Pfeifer, E. (2019). Modulations in the Experience of Duration. In: Arstila, V., Bardon, A., Power, S.E., Vatakis, A. (eds) The Illusions of Time. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22048-8_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation