Attention and Time Perception

Under great stress, time may seem to slow down, while excitement often makes time fly. Time continues to pass by at a constant rate, so why do these differences in time perception occur? Research indicates that factors such as emotional state, environmental conditions, and potentially individual differences in clinical diagnoses may contribute to variations in time perception. For example, individuals with depression often report experiencing time as passing more slowly in general, yet prior research demonstrates that they still produce accurate time perceptions. The present study was designed to assess this discrepancy in subjective time perception by focusing on potentially important attention-based mechanisms. Specifically, participants completed various time production tasks under: (1) full attention, (2) divided attention via an external task, and (3) divided attention via an internal task. This was followed by measures of depressive symptoms and overall subjective feelings about the passage of time. General theories of time perception, such as the Attention-Allocation Hypothesis, implicate attention as critical to accurately perceiving the passage of time, and would thus predict that time will be perceived as going by more slowly when attention is divided by either type of secondary task. While prior research suggests individuals with depression don't actually perceive time as going by more slowly, the present study used longer, more externally valid time duration tasks to see if an effect emerges with additional time to ruminate on internal thoughts. Ruminating, or circular thinking, is a common symptom in depression and may lead to less attention paid to the external passage of time. If so, it is predicted that depression and attention will interact. Specifically, we predict that for those with higher depressive symptoms, internal rumination will reduce the slowing effect of an internal distraction task since these individuals are likely already experiencing distracting internal thoughts.