Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events

The perceived time can shrink or expand for emotional stimuli. Converging evidence suggests that emotional time distortions are rooted in the emotional states of the timing agents because emotional stimuli can influence the timing of simultaneous neutral events. As emotional states are transitory, w...

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Main Authors: Nedim Goktepe, Müge Cavdan, Knut Drewing
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Acta Psychologica
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825003567
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author Nedim Goktepe
Müge Cavdan
Knut Drewing
author_facet Nedim Goktepe
Müge Cavdan
Knut Drewing
author_sort Nedim Goktepe
collection DOAJ
description The perceived time can shrink or expand for emotional stimuli. Converging evidence suggests that emotional time distortions are rooted in the emotional states of the timing agents because emotional stimuli can influence the timing of simultaneous neutral events. As emotional states are transitory, we investigated if time modulating emotional states also influence timing of subsequent neutral events. In each trial, we induced different valence and arousal levels by using affective vibrotactile patterns before participants judged the duration of neutral auditory tones. Compared to neutral patterns, affective patterns modulated participants’ time perception of the subsequent tones. We observed an interaction between arousal and valence: Pleasant-Low arousal patterns expanded the timing of subsequent neutral events more than Unpleasant-Low arousal patterns while Pleasant and Unpleasant-High arousal led to a similar temporal expansion. Our results indicate time modulating effects of emotional stimuli are due to changed emotional states and influence time perception likely until the underlying state decays.
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spelling doaj-art-1031e59d09b1415c9d9e7d355a2f3e502025-08-20T02:06:30ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-07-0125710504310.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105043Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral eventsNedim Goktepe0Müge Cavdan1Knut Drewing2INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123 SaarbrückenJustus Liebig Universität Giessen, Otto-Behargel-Strasse 10F, 35394 Giessen, Germany; Corresponding author.Justus Liebig Universität Giessen, Otto-Behargel-Strasse 10F, 35394 Giessen, GermanyThe perceived time can shrink or expand for emotional stimuli. Converging evidence suggests that emotional time distortions are rooted in the emotional states of the timing agents because emotional stimuli can influence the timing of simultaneous neutral events. As emotional states are transitory, we investigated if time modulating emotional states also influence timing of subsequent neutral events. In each trial, we induced different valence and arousal levels by using affective vibrotactile patterns before participants judged the duration of neutral auditory tones. Compared to neutral patterns, affective patterns modulated participants’ time perception of the subsequent tones. We observed an interaction between arousal and valence: Pleasant-Low arousal patterns expanded the timing of subsequent neutral events more than Unpleasant-Low arousal patterns while Pleasant and Unpleasant-High arousal led to a similar temporal expansion. Our results indicate time modulating effects of emotional stimuli are due to changed emotional states and influence time perception likely until the underlying state decays.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825003567Time perceptionEmotionValenceArousalVibrationTorso
spellingShingle Nedim Goktepe
Müge Cavdan
Knut Drewing
Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events
Acta Psychologica
Time perception
Emotion
Valence
Arousal
Vibration
Torso
title Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events
title_full Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events
title_fullStr Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events
title_full_unstemmed Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events
title_short Emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events
title_sort emotional time lengthening carries over to subsequent neutral events
topic Time perception
Emotion
Valence
Arousal
Vibration
Torso
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825003567
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AT mugecavdan emotionaltimelengtheningcarriesovertosubsequentneutralevents
AT knutdrewing emotionaltimelengtheningcarriesovertosubsequentneutralevents