The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns triggered worldwide changes in the daily routines of human experience. The Blursday database provides repeated measures of subjective time and related processes from participants in nine countries tested on 14 questionnaires and 15 behavioural tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 2,840 participants completed at least one task, and 439 participants completed all tasks in the first session. The database and all data collection tools are accessible to researchers for studying the effects of social isolation on temporal information processing, time perspective, decision-making, sleep, metacognition, attention, memory, self-perception and mindfulness. Blursday includes quantitative statistics such as sleep patterns, personality traits, psychological well-being and lockdown indices. The database provides quantitative insights on the effects of lockdown (stringency and mobility) and subjective confinement on time perception (duration, passage of time and temporal distances). Perceived isolation affects time perception, and we report an inter-individual central tendency effect in retrospective duration estimation.

The COVID-19 outbreak and governmental measures to keep the population safe had a great impact on many aspects of society, including well-being. Using data from N = 1281 participants from six countries (Argentina, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Turkey), we first explored differences in anxiety, depression (measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HADS), and time perspectives (Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory; ZTPI), between these countries during the first weeks of the pandemic. We observed that Turkish participants reported the highest levels of anxiety, and Japanese and Greek the lowest. For depression symptoms, the Japanese scored highest and Italians lowest. Next, for each country, we investigated how well the relatively time-stable personality traits of time perspectives, chronotype (reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire; rMEQ), and Big Five personality traits (short Big Five Inventory; BFI) predicted the levels of anxiety and depression (HADS). The regression analyses showed that negative attitudes towards the past predicted the levels of both anxiety and depression in most of the countries we analyzed. Additionally, in many countries, a Past Positive orientation negatively predicted depression whereas the Present Fatalistic subscale predicted anxiety and depression. The chronotype did not contribute additionally to the models. The Big Five traits (and particularly neuroticism) showed substantial incremental explanatory power for anxiety in some countries but did not consistently predict anxiety levels. For depression, the additional variance accounted for by including the BFI as predictors was rather small. Importantly, the ZTPI subscales were retained as significant predictors in the model still when the BFI and rMEQ were considered as potential predictors. Our results yield evidence that the ZTPI time perspectives are valuable predictors for anxiety and depression levels during the first period of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 outbreak and governmental measures to keep the population safe had a great impact on many aspects of society, including well-being. Using data from N=1281 participants from six countries (Argentina, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Turkey), we first explored differences in anxiety, depression (measured with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HADS) and time perspectives (Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory; ZTPI), between these countries during the first weeks of the pandemic. We observed that Turkish participants reported the highest levels of anxiety, and Japanese and Greek the lowest. For depression symptoms, the Japanese scored highest and Italians lowest. Next, for each country, we investigated how well the relatively time-stable personality traits of time perspectives, chronotype (reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire; rMEQ), and Big Five personality traits (short Big Five Inventory; BFI) predicted the levels of anxiety and depression (HADS). The regression analyses showed that negative attitudes towards the past predicted the levels of both anxiety and depression in most of the countries we analyzed. Additionally, in many countries, a Past Positive orientation negatively predicted depression whereas the Present Fatalistic subscale predicted anxiety and depression. The chronotype did not contribute additionally to the models. The Big Five traits (and particularly neuroticism) showed substantial incremental explanatory power for anxiety in some countries but did not consistently predict anxiety levels. For depression, the additional variance accounted for by including the BFI as predictors was rather small. Importantly, the ZTPI subscales were retained as significant predictors in the model still when the BFI and rMEQ were considered as potential predictors. Our results yield evidence that the ZTPI time perspectives are valuable predictors for anxiety and depression levels during the first period of the pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns triggered worldwide changes in the daily routines of human experience. The Blursday database provides measures of subjective time and related processes from more than 2,800 participants (over 9 countries) tested on 14 questionnaires and 15 behavioral tasks during the Covid-19 pandemic. The easy-to-process database and all data collection tools are made fully accessible to researchers interested in studying the effects of social isolation on temporal information processing, time perspective, decision-making, sleep, metacognition, attention, memory, self-perception, and mindfulness. Blursday also includes vital quantitative statistics such as sleep patterns, personality traits, psychological well-being, and lockdown indices. Herein, we exemplify the use of the database with novel quantitative insights on the effects of lockdown (stringency, mobility) and subjective confinement on time perception (duration, passage of time, temporal distances). We show that new discoveries are possible as illustrated by an inter-individual central tendency effect in retrospective duration estimation.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures have affected routines and mental well-being of people around the world. Research also shows distorted time perception during lockdowns which can partially be explained by compromised well-being. The present study investigates Canadians’ temporal experience and mental well-being at two periods of national lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic (spring 2020: n = 66; beginning of 2021: n = 100). As results indicate, the only difference between these periods on the investigated variables was the strictness of lockdown measures. Our findings show associations between anxiety, depression, confinement indicators, and time perception (future temporal distance, passage of time judgments). Stepwise regression models indicated that depression and strictness of measures predicted the impression that the next week appeared farther away; one’s loneliness appraisal was associated with a perceived slower time flow. Our findings give a preliminary idea about time perception and mental well-being in the Canadian lockdowns.