The time-emotion paradox

Abstract

The present manuscript discusses the time-emotion paradox in time psychology: although humans are able to accurately estimate time as if they possess a specific mechanism that allows them to measure time (i.e. an internal clock), their representations of time are easily distorted by the context. Indeed, our sense of time depends on intrinsic context, such as the emotional state, and on extrinsic context, such as the rhythm of others' activity. Existing studies on the relationships between emotion and time suggest that these contextual variations in subjective time do not result from the incorrect functioning of the internal clock but rather from the excellent ability of the internal clock to adapt to events in one's environment. Finally, the fact that we live and move in time and that everything, every act, takes more or less time has often been neglected. Thus, there is no unique, homogeneous time but instead multiple experiences of time. Our subjective temporal distortions directly reflect the way our brain and body adapt to these multiple time scales.

Figure 1

The temporal information processing model (Gibbon et al. 1984).

Figure 2

Difference scores (p(long) emotion–p(long) neutral) plotted against stimulus durations, as a function of age groups, for the facial expressions of (a) anger and (b) fear. Diamonds, adults; squares, eight years; crosses, 5 years.

Figure 3

Difference scores (p(long) emotion–p(long) neutral) plotted against stimulus durations, as a function of age groups, for facial expressions of sadness. Diamonds, adults; squares, 8 years; crosses, 5 years.

Figure 4

Difference scores (p(long) emotion–p(long) neutral) plotted against stimulus durations, as a function of age groups, for facial expressions of shame. Diamonds, adults; squares, 8 years; crosses, 5 years.

Figure 5

Examples of (a) elderly and (b) young women's faces with a neutral expression.

Figure 6

Proportion of long responses plotted against the stimulus duration value for (a) men and (b) women and the faces of a young man and woman and an elderly man and woman. Filled circles, elderly woman; open circles, young woman; filled squares, elderly man; open squares, young man.

Figure 7

Difference scores (p(long) emotion–p(long) neutral) for the Caucasian participants seeing Chinese versus Caucasian faces, as a function of the participants' empathy level. White bars, low empathics; black bars, high empathics.