Abstract
Previous studies suggested that threatening stimuli lengthen subjective duration, while facial expressions of pain were found to produce a shortening effect on temporal perception in a recent study. Moreover, individuals’ responses to others’ pain were influenced by the individuals’ relationship to a racial group. However, the effects of same- and other-race pained facial expressions on temporal perception, remain unknown. The aim of this present study was to identify the effect expressions of pain have on temporal perception and to explore whether this effect was modulated by the relationship to a racial group. In a temporal bisection task, Chinese participants were presented with pain or neutral facial expressions displayed by Caucasian (other-race) or Chinese (same-race) models in a 400–1600 ms or 200–800 ms condition. Expressions of pain were rated as more arousing, negative and disagreeable, than neutral facial expressions. These scores were not significantly different between same- and other-race facial expressions. Based on the results of the temporal bisection task, both same- and other-race pained facial expressions lengthened the perceived duration in the 400–1600 ms condition, but only same-race pained facial expressions produced this effect in the 200–800 ms condition. We postulate that the existence of a short-lived effect of pained facial expressions on lengthening temporal perception caused by arousal and attention, occurs at an earlier time point for same-race pained facial expressions than for other-race pained facial expressions.
Highlights
Accurate perceptions of time are crucial in daily life
The aim of the current study is to explore the effect of facial expressions of pain on temporal perception and whether this effect is modulated by the racial group relationship
The study attempted to identify the influence of facial expressions of pain on temporal perception and whether this effect was modulated by the racial group relationship between an observer and a target
Summary
According to numerous empirical findings, a subjective duration is distorted by internal and external factors, and one significant factor is emotion Various emotional stimuli, such as affective images selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) (Balsam and Van Volkinburg, 2014; Tamm et al, 2014) and emotional facial expressions (Gil and Droit-Volet, 2011; Ng et al, 2011; Grondin et al, 2014), have been employed to explore the underlying mechanisms of the effects of emotion on a subjective time experience. A relatively consistent finding was that threatening stimuli with high arousal and negative valence extends an observers’ subjective duration This temporal lengthening effect may help individuals to efficiently and adaptively respond to occurring or forthcoming stimuli (Droit-Volet and Gil, 2009; Lake et al, 2016).
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