[P1] Poster: Day 1

[P1-14] Aggression May Accelerate Passage of Time Regardless of Physiological Arousal

*Ryohei Mimura^1,2, Makoto Ichikawa¹ (1. Chiba University (Japan), 2. Hyogo prefectural police H.Q. (Japan))

Keywords:

Aggression,Time Perception,Physiological Arousal

Impulsive and aggressive individuals tend to perceive time more quickly than it actually passes (Dougherty et al., 2007; Gorlyn et al., 2005). However, the mechanisms underlying such timing distortions remain unclear. Previous research suggested that higher levels of aggression were associated with lower resting physiological arousal (Scarpa et al., 2000) and increased arousal during tasks (Armstrong et al., 2019). Moreover, increased arousal levels accelerate subjective time perception (Droit-Volet & Meck, 2007; Gibbon et al., 1984; Treisman, 1963; Zakay & Block, 1997). This study investigated whether higher aggression levels would accelerate the subjective time passage, and whether the relationship between the aggression and subjective time passage could be mediated by physiological arousal. Participants completed the Japanese version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire and subsequently performed a time estimation task. In each of the 10 trials, they estimated one of five randomly presented target durations (10, 20, 40, 60, or 90 seconds). Participants were instructed to count the target duration and press a key when they believed the time had passed. Heart rate, as an index of physiological arousal, was continuously recorded from the end of the questionnaire until the conclusion of the task. Results show that the more aggressive the participants were, the shorter they estimated the elapsed time. A mediation analysis, with aggression as the independent variable, physiological arousal as the mediator, and estimated time as the dependent variable, revealed that higher aggression levels accelerated the subjective time passage regardless of physiological arousal. These findings suggest that mechanisms other than arousal-related factors contribute to the effect of aggression on time perception. We are proposing that cognitive, affective, or motivational factors specific to aggressive traits may contribute to time perception.