Slowing Down the Clock: A Review of Experimental Studies Investigating Psychological Time Dilation

Sucală, Mădălina; David, Daniel

doi:10.1080/00221309.2012.695410

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Our findings go in line with a recent trial in which after five sessions of mindfulness training participants more frequently reported states of relaxed boundaries of the self and extending the spatial frame of reference beyond the physical body, compared to an active listening control group (Hanley, Dambrun, et al, 2020). Other studies also support mindfulness practice effects on self and time perception (Berkovich-Ohana & Glicksohn, 2017;Sucala & David, 2013). If meditation types practiced in MBPs involve self-deconstructive practices, as in the case of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2013), from which the MBCT-FP programme used in the present study has been developed (Williams & Penman, 2011), this makes sense (Dahl et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: results from a randomised controlled trial

Galante¹,

Montero-Marín²,

Vainre³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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BackgroundMindfulness-based programmes (MBPs) have shown beneficial mental health effects. There is emerging evidence that MBPs may also be associated with marked deviations in the subjective experience of waking consciousness. We aimed to assess whether MBPs can have a causal role in different types of such states. MethodsWe conducted a pragmatic randomised controlled trial (ACTRN12615001160527). University of Cambridge students without severe mental illness were randomised to an 8-week MBP plus mental health support as usual (SAU), or to SAU alone. We adapted the Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale (OAV) to assess spontaneous experiences in daily life, and included it as a post-hoc secondary outcome at the end of the one-year follow-up questionnaire. ResultsWe randomised 670 participants; 205 (33%) completed the OAV. In comparison with SAU, MBP participants had more intense experiences of unity, (adjusted partial eta squared (n2) 0.04, p=0.001) and disembodiment (n2 0.04, p=0.006). Meditation predicted reports of unity, blissful state, insightfulness, disembodiment, and changed meanings. Findings were robust to corrections for multiple comparisons.ConclusionsResults provide a novel suggestion of causal links between mindfulness practice and specific altered states of consciousness. Practitioners need to anticipate and handle them appropriately. Future studies need to confirm findings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: results from a randomised controlled trial

Galante¹,

Montero-Marín²,

Vainre³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Time dilation has been demonstrated for angry faces (Gil, Niedenthal, & Droit-Volet, 2007), fear cuing pictures (Grommet et al, 2011), and 95 dB white noise (Droit-Volet, Mermillod, Cocenas-Silva, & Gil, 2010). In addition, several previous studies have provided evidence that time dilation is a robust effect at a variety of stimulus durations (Droit-Volet & Meck, 2007;Sucala & David, 2012). While these studies provide evidence that time dilation can occur during the presentation of a threatening or negative stimulus, it is not presently known whether stressful experiences can alter subsequent time perception, or whether time dilation effects are specific to negative stimuli as compared to positive or neutral stimuli.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

The influence of social stress on time perception and psychophysiological reactivity

et al. 2017

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Time perception is a fundamental component of everyday life. Although time can be measured using standard units, the relationship between an individual’s experience of perceived time and a standard unit is highly sensitive to context. Stressful and threatening stimuli have been previously shown to produce time distortion effects, such that individuals perceive the stimuli as lasting for different amounts of time as compared to a standard unit. As a highly social species, humans are acutely sensitive to social stressors; however, time distortion effects have not been studied in the context of social stress. We collected psychophysiological (electrocardiogram and impedance cardiography) and time perception data before, during, and after a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test for 42 participants. Based on prior theories and evidence from the time perception literature, we hypothesized that experiencing a stressful event would result in time distortion. This hypothesis was supported by the data, with individuals on average reproducing short and long duration negative and positive stimuli as lasting longer after experiencing social stress, t(41) = −3.55, p = .001, and t(41) = −4.12, p <.001 for negative stimuli, and t(41)5 −2.43, p = .02, and t(41) = −3.07, p = .004 for positive stimuli. However, changes in time perception were largely unrelated to psychophysiological reactivity to social stress. These findings are in line with some other studies of time distortion, and provide evidence for the interoceptive salience model of time perception. Implications for mechanisms of time distortion are discussed.

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“…The flow of time was judged slower by the meditators in two studies. In the Sucala and David (2013) study, participants in the meditation group were instructed to “extend their attention to the present moment and to the unfolding of moment-to-moment experiences” (p. 246), which describes OM practice. In the other study (Schötz et al, 2016), experienced practitioners of transcendental meditation were compared to matched controls.…”

Section: Results Of Previous Studies In Light Of the Abmmmentioning

confidence: 99%

How long did the time spent in meditation feel? “Attention. Attention. Attention.”.

Winkler¹,

Lukina²

2023

Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice

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Studies that examined the impact of meditation on the subjective perception of time have produced contradictory results. Sometimes time seems to expand for meditators, other times to shorten. Previous explanations used (different) current theories of timing to explain these results. In contrast, we propose a theoretical account that starts with a model of meditation derived from early Buddhism and augment it with current theories of time perception. This augmented Buddhist model of meditation (ABMM) predicts that the felt time spent in meditation depends crucially on the kind of meditation technique: Time should in retrospect feel shorter when meditators continuously focus their attention on a given object of meditation than when they have their attention openly monitoring ever-changing perceptions, cognitions, and emotions. However, the length and accuracy of time estimates should not be noticeably influenced by the kind of meditation, and whether meditators are informed about an upcoming timing task beforehand should affect only beginners and not advanced meditators. First, we use the ABMM to reexamine the seemingly contradictory results from previous research and then report on the first study that directly tested the model. Both the results of previous research and the findings of the current study are largely consistent with the predictions derived from the ABMM.

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Slowing Down the Clock: A Review of Experimental Studies Investigating Psychological Time Dilation

Cited by 9 publications

References 37 publications

Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: results from a randomised controlled trial

Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: results from a randomised controlled trial

The influence of social stress on time perception and psychophysiological reactivity

How long did the time spent in meditation feel? “Attention. Attention. Attention.”.

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