[P3] Poster: Day 3

[P3-22] What do the eyes tell us about emotional temporal distortion? An exploratory study

*Luigi Micillo¹, Mariagrazia Capizzi^2,3, Andrea Zangrossi¹, Giovanna Mioni¹ (1. Department of General Psychology - University of Padova (Italy), 2. Department of Experimental Psychology - University of Granada (Spain), 3. Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC) - University of Granada (Spain))

Keywords:

Time Perception,Emotion,Pupillometry,Physiological Arousal

Emotional states can significantly influence our perception of time. While this effect is often attributed to increased arousal, few studies have directly assessed arousal through physiological measures. The present study explores the intricate relationship between emotion-induced physiological arousal and temporal processing. Specifically, we examined whether arousal variations elicited by negative stimuli were reflected in pupil dynamics, and whether these changes could predict the degree of temporal distortion experienced during emotionally charged events. Forty participants (20 females; age range: 18–25) completed a time reproduction task while viewing images selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), categorized into three conditions based on perceived arousal: neutral, negative-high arousal, and negative-low arousal. Pupil diameter was continuously recorded using the EyeLink 1000 Plus eye-tracking system. Data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models to evaluate the effects of emotional content on both pupil responses and time perception. Results indicated that more negative images were associated with greater pupil constriction, suggesting a physiological response to emotional intensity. In terms of temporal processing, participants overestimated the duration of negative-high arousal stimuli compared to neutral and negative-low arousal stimuli. In conclusion, these findings highlight the role of emotion-induced physiological arousal—indexed by pupil constriction—in shaping our subjective experience of time. High-arousal negative stimuli, in particular, appear to significantly distort temporal perception.