Abstract
Patient suffering of major depressive disorder (MDD) often complain that subjective time seems to “drag” with respect to physical time. This may point toward a generalized dysfunction of temporal processing in MDD. In the present study, we investigated temporal preparation in MDD. “Temporal preparation” refers to an increased readiness to act before an expected event; consequently, reaction time should be reduced. MDD patients and age-matched controls were required to make a saccadic eye movement between a central and an eccentric visual target after a variable duration preparatory period. We found that MDD patients produced a larger number of premature saccades, saccades initiated prior to the appearance of the expected stimulus. These saccades were not temporally controlled; instead, they seemed to reflect reduced inhibitory control causing oculomotor impulsivity. In contrast, the latency of visually guided saccades was strongly influenced by temporal preparation in controls; significantly less so, in MDD patients. This observed reduced temporal preparation in MDD was associated with a faster decay of short-term temporal memory. Moreover, in patients producing a lot of premature responses, temporal preparation to early imperative stimuli was increased. In conclusion, reduced temporal preparation and short-term temporal memory in the oculomotor domain supports the hypothesis that temporal processing was altered in MDD patients. Moreover, oculomotor impulsivity interacted with temporal preparation. These observed deficits could reflect other underlying aspects of abnormal time experience in MDD.
Highlights
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often associated with an altered awareness of the passage time
The aim of this study was to determine how temporal preparation and short-term temporal memory were affected in MDD as well as the influence of the lack of inhibitory control
We found that temporal preparation was reduced in MDD compared with age-matched healthy controls
Summary
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often associated with an altered awareness of the passage time. MDD patients often complain that subjective time is going by at a reduced pace compared with physical time (Gallagher, 2012; Msetfi et al, 2012; Ratcliffe, 2012; Droit-Volet, 2013; Thönes and Oberfeld, 2015; Davalos et al, 2018; Vogel et al, 2018) This perturbed time awareness has led Temporal Preparation in Depression to a systematic investigation of time “perception” using quantitative methods requiring an explicit judgment about durations. Implicit timing refers to the capacity to time actions based on temporal regularities in the environment (Coull and Nobre, 2008; Coull and Droit-Volet, 2018) It emerges in non-temporal tasks where temporal information is, essential to achieve optimal performance, as when making a saccade to a visual target. This implicit influence of elapsed time on movement preparation is often referred to as “temporal preparation” and is still poorly understood in depression (see Bonin-Guillaume et al, 2004)
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