Presentation Information
[O9-01]How each heartbeat shapes neural processing of duration?
*Irena Arslanova1, Magda Jaglinska2, Manos Tsakiris1 (1. Royal Holloway University of London (UK), 2. University College London (UK))
Keywords:
duration perception,heart,cardiac phase,interoception,EEG
We previously showed that perceived stimulus duration was distorted by autonomic signals arising from the heart, and that this temporal distortion was modulated by experienced arousal (Arslanova et al., 2023; Current Biology). Here, we present two studies that reveal the neural mechanisms underlying these effects using electroencephalography (EEG), testing if and how the subjective experience of duration arises from an intricate brain-heart interplay.
The first EEG study examined the neural correlates of temporal distortions when cardiac signals impacted emotionally neutral stimuli (i.e., participants judged the duration of visual Gabor patches), whereas the second EEG study focused on cardiac effects on duration perception under different levels of experienced arousal (i.e., participants judge the duration of faces showing neutral of fearful expression). The first EEG study (N = 40) showed that cardiac signalling supressed later stages of visual processing, which was correlated with contraction of perceived durations. The second EEG study (N = 41) revealed distinct mechanisms by which arousal and cardiac signals shape subjective duration perception – an early modulation by arousal, followed by a later modulation by cardiac signal.
Overall, these results reveal how cardiac signals shape subjective time experience by exerting top-down attenuation of sensory processing, how temporal information may be intrinsic to sensory response, and how affective context drives the effect of the heart on our sense of duration.
The first EEG study examined the neural correlates of temporal distortions when cardiac signals impacted emotionally neutral stimuli (i.e., participants judged the duration of visual Gabor patches), whereas the second EEG study focused on cardiac effects on duration perception under different levels of experienced arousal (i.e., participants judge the duration of faces showing neutral of fearful expression). The first EEG study (N = 40) showed that cardiac signalling supressed later stages of visual processing, which was correlated with contraction of perceived durations. The second EEG study (N = 41) revealed distinct mechanisms by which arousal and cardiac signals shape subjective duration perception – an early modulation by arousal, followed by a later modulation by cardiac signal.
Overall, these results reveal how cardiac signals shape subjective time experience by exerting top-down attenuation of sensory processing, how temporal information may be intrinsic to sensory response, and how affective context drives the effect of the heart on our sense of duration.