Abstract
Compromised time control is a variable of interest among disordered gamers because time spent on videogames can directly affect individuals’ lives. Although time perception appears to be closely associated with this phenomenon, previous studies have not systematically found a relationship between time perception and gaming. Therefore, the purpose of this narrative review is to explore how gaming disorder may be associated with time perception. It has been found that gamers exhibit a stronger attentional focus as well as an improved working memory compared with non-gamers. However, gamers (and especially disordered gamers) exhibit a stronger reaction to gaming cues which—coupled with an altered emotion regulation observed among disordered gamers—could directly affect their time perception. Finally, “'flow states”' direct most of the attentional resources to the ongoing activity, leading to a lack of resources allocated to the time perception. Therefore, entering a flow state will result in an altered time perception, most likely an underestimation of duration. The paper concludes that the time loss effect observed among disordered gamers can be explained via enhanced emotional reactivity (facilitated by impaired emotion regulation).
Highlights
Compromised time control is a variable of interest among disordered gamers because time spent on videogames can directly affect individuals’ lives
The present paper focuses on gaming disorder, it is worth noting that impaired time control has been related to a wide range of psychopathological disorders, including attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (e.g., Bielefeld et al 2017), bipolar disorder (e.g., Bolbecker et al 2014), schizophrenia (e.g., Ciullo et al 2018), and substance use disorder (e.g., Wittmann et al 2007)
Since the present review only evaluated the common variables between gaming and time perception, these constructs were not developed due to the lack of studies examining their association with time perception
Summary
Time perception depends on two separate processes: a conscious and ad hoc process where attention is directed towards time (i.e., prospective time perception, PTP), and an unconscious and post hoc process where attention is diverted from time (i.e., retrospective time perception, RTP) (Levin and Zakay 1989). Utilizing Diablo II (a dungeon crawler real-time role-playing game), Rau et al (2006) recruited 26 expert players and 38 novice players and asked them to play this game in three conditions corresponding to different time intervals (i.e., 30, 60, and 90 min) before asking them to retrospectively estimate the duration of the gaming sessions. The authors compared time perception among disordered gamers (n = 14, according to the scale developed by Griffiths and Hunt 1998) to the rest of the sample (n = 102), and showed that disordered gamers tended to underestimate the duration of the session compared with other participants in the 24-min session. Past research has emphasized that disordered gaming is associated with specific cognitive (e.g., executive functions) and emotional factors (e.g., emotion regulation strategies) that are postulated to play a pivotal role in time perception (e.g., Baudouin et al 2006a; Cain et al 2014; Colzato et al 2013; Fayolle et al 2014)
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