The Internal Process of Time Deviation in Anxious State

Abstract

A large number of studies have shown that emotions have an impact on subjective time perception, yet little is known about how individuals perceive time retrospectively when they are in an anxious state. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the moderated mediating effect of engagement and memory bias on the relationship between state anxiety and retrospective time perception. In Experiment 1, state anxiety (high and low) was manipulated by a standardized induction procedure, and retrospective time perception was tested by the visual analogue mood scale. In Experiment 2, memory bias was tested by the visual analogue mood scale and analyzed as a mediator between state anxiety and retrospective time perception. In Experiment 3, the sound of a neutral heartbeat was introduced as the measurement object of memory bias, engagement and retrospective time perception to test the moderated mediating role of engagement and memory bias in the relationship between state anxiety and retrospective time perception. The results suggested that (1) high state anxious individuals subjectively experienced a retrospective duration as proceeding more slowly than low state anxious individuals, (2) memory bias mediated the influence of state anxiety on retrospective time perception, and (3) engagement moderated the mediation effect of memory bias. Our findings contribute to understanding the roles that engagement and memory bias play in retrospective time perceptions in an anxious state.