How Does Emotion Influence Time Perception? A Review of Evidence Linking Emotional Motivation and Time Processing

Abstract

Emotions have a strong influence on how we experience time passing. The body of research investigating the role of emotion on time perception has steadily increased in the past twenty years. Several affective mechanisms have been proposed to influence the passing of time. The current review focuses on how three dimensions of affect—valence, arousal, and motivation—are related to time perception. The valence-based model of time perception predicts that all positive affects hasten the perception of time and all negative affects slow the perception of time. Arousal is thought to intensify the effects of the influence of valence on time perception. In much of this past work, motivational direction has been confounded with valence, whereas motivational intensity has been confounded with arousal. Research investigating the role of motivation in time perception has found that approach-motivated positive and negative affects hasten the perception of time, but withdrawal-motivated affects slow the perception of time. Perceiving time passing quickly while experiencing approach-motivated states may provide significant advantages related to goal pursuit. In contrast, perceiving time passing slowly while experiencing withdrawal-motivated states may increase avoidance actions. Below, we review evidence supporting that approach motivation hastens the passing of time, whereas withdrawal motivation slows the passing of time. These results suggest that motivational direction, rather than affective valence and arousal, drive emotional changes in time perception.

The effect of the intensity of withdrawal-motivation emotion on time perception: Evidence based on the five temporal tasks.

“…On the one hand, this result could be explained through the PA model, which suggests that high intensity of withdrawal-motivation emotion could allocate more attention resources compared with low intensity, resulting in more attention resources invested in the timing process and leading to an underestimation of duration (Gibbon et al, 1984; Lake et al, 2016). On the other hand, this study supplemented the findings of Gable and Poole (2012) and Gable et al (2016) and further confirmed the mechanistic role of motivation in time perception (Gable et al, 2022; Yin, Zhang, Liu, & Li, 2023). Specifically, approach motivation hastened the perception of time, while withdrawal motivation slowed it.…”

Perception of time in the online product customization process

“…As with the factor of task difficulty, in this factor we studied how the participants' level of motivation affected their perception of time during online customization. It has been observed in previous psychological experiments that people with a goal-motivated mindset underestimate their perceptions of time (Gable et al, 2022). Thus, we hypothesize that customers with high motivation to customize the product underestimate the passage of time (H3); in other words, the p-rate is negatively correlated with customers' motivation for customization.…”

“…As with the factor of task difficulty, in this factor we studied how the participants' level of motivation affected their perception of time during online customization. It has been observed in previous psychological experiments that people with a goal-motivated mindset underestimate their perceptions of time (Gable et al. , 2022).…”

“… Motivation to process information. Motivation represents the customer's engagement, readiness, willingness, interest, or desire to process product information; it is a type of goal-oriented arousal (Gable et al. , 2022).…”

“…(2) Motivation to process information. Motivation represents the customer's engagement, readiness, willingness, interest, or desire to process product information; it is a type of goal-oriented arousal (Gable et al, 2022). For a product customization process to be successful, it is crucial for the degree of difficulty to suit customers' motivation.…”