| Summary: | Although accurate time perception is a necessary component of everyday life, our subjective experiences of time are greatly affected by context. Time distortion has been demonstrated using a variety of different stimuli, but questions remain about the underlying mechanisms of these effects. The interoceptive salience model of time perception takes into account the psychophysiological effects of emotion in time perception, and along with measures of interoceptive accuracy might help explain how time distortions occur. In Study 1, participants completed timing reproductions for auditory and visual stimuli before and after a slow breathing or stroop task. Across conditions participants were more accurate in their reproductions of very short duration visual stimuli compared to auditory stimuli; however accuracy for auditory stimuli was superior to that of visual stimuli at longer durations. Although the experimental tasks did not influence post-manipulation time reproductions, there were significant differences between the two conditions in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) which were predictive of changes in interoceptive accuracy. In Study 2, participants completed a social threat task or physical threat task and reproduced time intervals for pictures categorized by content and valence. Participants in the social threat condition showed significant post-threat time dilation for negative pictures, as well as increases in heart rate and decreases in cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) during the social threat task. Similar to Study 1 interoceptive accuracy was associated with changes in RSA during the threat manipulation; however there were no significant relationships between interoceptive accuracy and post-threat time reproductions. Results are discussed with regard to implications for the interoceptive salience model and the literature on time perception, and future directions for this area of research are recommended.
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