Perception Of Duration Research Articles

Sub- and Supra-Second Duration Perception of Implied Motion: Differences Between Athletes and Non-Athletes.

This study aimed to investigate the differences in duration perception between athletes and non-athletes when looking at implied motion images within sub- and supra-second time ranges. By adopting the temporal bisection method, the study analyzed the duration perception of 20 college student athletes and 20 non-athletes regarding the implied motion of daily life (running and walking) and static postures (standing). The results showed that the effect of movement posture was significant, i.e., the perceived duration of the implied motion posture was longer than that of the static posture. Specifically, athletes perceived longer durations in the supra-second time range compared to non-athletes, indicating that long-term training enhanced athletes' time perception abilities. The findings provide new insights into the cognitive mechanisms of time perception and emphasize the influence of long-term physical training on temporal perceptual capabilities.

Sex differences in the human brain related to visual motion perception

BackgroundPrevious studies have found that the temporal duration required for males to perceive visual motion direction is significantly shorter than that for females. However, the neural correlates of such shortened duration perception remain yet unclear. Given that motion perception is primarily associated with the neural activity of the middle temporal visual complex (MT+), we here test the novel hypothesis that the neural mechanism of these behavioral sex differences is mainly related to the MT+ region.MethodsWe utilized ultra-high field (UHF) MRI to investigate sex differences in the MT+ brain region. A total of 95 subjects (48 females) participated in two separate studies. Cohort 1, consisting of 33 subjects (16 females), completed task-fMRI (drafting grating stimuli) experiment. Cohort 2, comprising 62 subjects (32 females), engaged in a psychophysical experiment measuring motion perception along different temporal thresholds as well as conducting structural and functional MRI scanning of MT+.ResultsOur findings show pronounced sex differences in major brain parameters within the left MT+ (but not the right MT+, i.e., laterality). In particular, males demonstrate (i) larger gray matter volume (GMV) and higher brain’s spontaneous activity at the fastest infra-slow frequency band in the left MT+; and (ii) stronger functional connectivity between the left MT+ and the left centromedial amygdala (CM). Meanwhile, both female and male participants exhibited comparable correlations between motion perception ability and the multimodal imaging indexes of the MT+ region, i.e., larger GMV, higher brain’s spontaneous activity, and faster motion discrimination.ConclusionsOur findings reveal sex differences of imaging indicators of structure and function in the MT+ region, which also relate to the temporal threshold of motion discrimination. Overall, these results show how behavioral sex differences in visual motion perception are generated, and advocate considering sex as a crucial biological variable in both human brain and behavioral research.

The potential mechanisms underlying the effect of acute alcohol use on duration perception.

Acute alcohol consumption has been found to cause duration perception distortions, but the directions of these distortions are not consistent. The mechanisms underlying this effect are also unclear. The present study seeks to elucidate the effect of acute alcohol consumption on duration perception and the mechanisms involved. Forty-one participants in the placebo group and 40 in the alcohol group completed time bisection tasks, attentional network tests, digit span backward tests and arousal reports to evaluate their duration perception, attentional network, working memory capacity and arousal. The results showed that the alcohol group overestimated duration compared to the placebo group. The alcohol group also showed increased arousal, impaired executive control of attention and reduced working memory capacity. Arousal mediated the effect of acute alcohol consumption on duration perception, whilst working memory capacity masked this effect. The findings are discussed based on the Scalar Timing Model and the Cognitive Resource Allocation Model.

Perceived duration of visual stimuli contracts due to crowding.

Recent research on duration perception suggests that duration encoding is not a single general process but involves several separate processes, some of which are specific to visual modality. Moreover, different functional aspects of visual processing can influence duration perception in distinct ways. One of the most important functions of the visual system is to identify and recognize features, shapes, and objects. However, it is still unclear whether and how computations related to these processes affect duration perception. To clarify this issue, we used a spatial crowding phenomenon, which allows the dissociation of low-level feature extraction from high-level processes such as object recognition. We created letter and vernier stimuli matched for their low-level properties but different in their discriminability due to spatial crowding. Here, we show that stimuli that became more difficult to discriminate appeared shorter in duration (data collected in 2019-2023). This difference in perceived duration could not be explained by low-level stimulus properties, cognitive bias due to discriminability, or perceived stimulus onsets or offsets. These results suggest the existence of time-sensitive structures specific to visual processing of features, shapes, and objects that is affected by crowding. These findings support the notion of distributed timing mechanisms in the visual system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Bistable Perception Discriminates Between Depressive Patients, Controls, Schizophrenia Patients, and Their Siblings.

Individuals with schizophrenia have less priors than controls, meaning they rely less upon their prior experiences to interpret the current stimuli. These differences in priors are expected to show as higher alternation rates in bistable perception tasks like the Structure-from-Motion (SfM) paradigm. In this paradigm, continuously moving dots in two dimensions are perceived subjectively as traveling along a three-dimensional sphere, which results in a direction of motion (left or right) that shifts approximately every few seconds. Here, we tested healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia, siblings of patients with schizophrenia, and patients with depression with both the intermittent and continuous variants of the SfM paradigm. In the intermittent variant of the SfM paradigm, depressive patients exhibited the lowest alternation rate, followed by unaffected controls. In contrast, patients with schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings displayed significantly higher alternation rates. In the continuous variant of the SfM paradigm, patients with schizophrenia showed the lowest mean percept durations, while there were no differences between the other three groups. The intermittent SfM paradigm is a candidate endophenotype for schizophrenia. The aberrant processing in the patients may stem from alterations in adaptation and/or cross-inhibition mechanisms leading to changes in priors, as suggested by current models in the field. The intermittent SfM paradigm is, hence, a trait marker that offers the great opportunity to investigate perceptual abnormalities across the psychiatry spectrum, ranging from depression to psychosis.

Investigating the Kappa Effect Elicited Through Concurrent Visual and Tactile Stimulation.

The experience of time and space in subjective perception is closely connected. The Kappa effect refers to the phenomenon where the perceived duration of the time interval between stimuli is influenced by the spatial distance between them. In this study, we aimed to explore the Kappa effect from a psychophysical perspective. We investigated participants' perception of temporal duration in the sub-second range by delivering visual and tactile inputs through wearable devices placed on both the palm and the forearm. We compared the impact of unimodal sensory stimulation, involving either visual or tactile stimuli, with different bimodal stimulation conditions. Our results revealed that the illusory effect on inter-stimulus duration perception can be observed in both unimodal conditions, although the distortions were significantly more pronounced in vision. In the multimodal stimulation condition, where visual stimuli were presented at non-equidistant spatial locations, the integration of tactile input did not reduce the Kappa effect, regardless of the spatial location of the tactile stimuli. However, when the visual stimuli were equidistant in space, regardless of the spatial location of the tactile stimuli, the Kappa effect disappeared. These results can shed light on the effect played by multimodality on the perception of space and time.

Boredom, vigilance, and repetition during remote control room work for autonomous ships

Abstract Introduction: Remote Operating Centers (ROCs) enable human oversight of remotely operated and autonomous ships. However, the “human-in-the-loop” model of automated control oversight implies prolonged periods of inactivity punctuated by safety-critical action. This paper investigates the extent to which this role is aligned with humans’ innate attentional resources in terms of boredom, vigilance, and repetition. Method: A simulator study was completed with ROC operators (volunteer participants with relevant expertise). One group completed a short scenario (5 minutes; N = 16); the other completed a long scenario (30 minutes; N = 16). The duration marked the onset of a stimulus (an alarm), prompting manual takeover. In a mixed method approach, four sources of data were collected, consisting of pupillometry, questionnaire, interview, and video data. Results: Pupillometry data showed larger pupillary constrictions in the 30-minute group, indicative of decreased cognitive activity (effect size 0.25 mm). The questionnaire showed that operators in the 30-minute scenario were more likely to experience their tasks as unchallenging, understimulating, and lacking in meaning. Finally, a relationship was found between repetitive content and varying perceptions of time duration. Moreover, operators perceived scenarios as longer when they detected an “oddball” in the repetitive series (a gorilla passenger). Conclusion: ROC work as currently imagined is prone to boredom, vigilance decrement, and suppression of repetition. The study adds to the empirical research about boredom and its associated cognitive states in control room work. The study also contributes to design considerations impacting safety and organizational aspects like operator training and retention.

Influencing factors of self-management ability among dry eye patients in west China.

To investigate the current situation and influencing factors of self-management ability in dry eye patients in west China. A total of 265 patients clinically diagnosed with dry eye received a convenience survey questionnaire at West China Hospital of Sichuan University. All participants completed the rating scale of health self-management skill for adults (AHSMSRS), Huaxi Emotional-Distress Index (HEI), e-health literacy scale (e-HEALS) and Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Brief-IPQ). A generalized linear model was employed to establish a multivariate linear model with demographic data, psychological state, e-HEALS, and illness perception as independent variables and health self-management skill score as the dependent variable. The mean score for health self-management skill was 165.58±15.79. Multivariate analysis revealed that advanced age, better illness perception and improved psychological state were associated with better health self-management ability among dry eye patients. Furthermore, the health self-management ability of patients with a disease duration less than 1y was found to be higher compared to those with a disease duration exceeding 1y. The health self-management ability of dry eye patients in west China is relatively high. Age, duration of disease, illness perception and psychological state are the influencing factors on the health self-management ability of dry eye patients.

Mechanism of Duration Perception in Artificial Brains Suggests New Model of Attentional Entrainment.

While cognitive theory has advanced several candidate frameworks to explain attentional entrainment, the neural basis for the temporal allocation of attention is unknown. Here we present a new model of attentional entrainment guided by empirical evidence obtained using a cohort of 50 artificial brains. These brains were evolved in silico to perform a duration judgment task similar to one where human subjects perform duration judgments in auditory oddball paradigms. We found that the artificial brains display psychometric characteristics remarkably similar to those of human listeners and exhibit similar patterns of distortions of perception when presented with out-of-rhythm oddballs. A detailed analysis of mechanisms behind the duration distortion suggests that attention peaks at the end of the tone, which is inconsistent with previous attentional entrainment models. Instead, the new model of entrainment emphasizes increased attention to those aspects of the stimulus that the brain expects to be highly informative.

Native language background affects the perception of duration and pitch

Estonian is a quantity language with both a primary duration cue and a secondary pitch cue, whereas Chinese is a tonal language with a dominant pitch use. Using a mismatch negativity experiment and a behavioral discrimination experiment, we investigated how native language background affects the perception of duration only, pitch only, and duration plus pitch information. Chinese participants perceived duration in Estonian as meaningless acoustic information due to a lack of phonological use of duration in their native language; however, they demonstrated a better pitch discrimination ability than Estonian participants. On the other hand, Estonian participants outperformed Chinese participants in perceiving the non-speech pure tones that resembled the Estonian quantity (i.e., containing both duration and pitch information). Our results indicate that native language background affects the perception of duration and pitch and that such an effect is not specific to processing speech sounds.

An afferent nerve-like electronic device with somatic mechanical perception and sensation management

Tactile and pain perception are essential for biological skin to interact with the external environment. This complex interplay of sensations allows for the detection of potential threats and appropriate responses to stimuli. However, the challenge is to enable flexible electronics to respond to mechanical stimuli such as biological skin, and researchers have not clearly reported the successful integration of somatic mechanical perception and sensation management functions into neuro-like electronics. In this work, an afferent nerve-like device with a pressure sensor and a perception management module is proposed. The pressure sensor comprises two conductive fabric layers and an ionic hydrogel, forming a capacitor structure that emulates the swift transition from tactile to pain perception under mechanical stimulation. Drawing inspiration from the neuronal “gate control” mechanism, the sensation management module adjusts signals in response to rubbing, accelerating the discharge process and reducing the perception duration, thereby replicating the inhibitory effect of biological neurons on pain following tactile interference. This integrated device, encompassing somatic mechanical perception and sensation management, holds promise for applications in soft robotics, prosthetics, and human-machine interaction.

Correlates of multidimensional sleep in premenopausal women: The BioCycle study

PurposeTo identify sleep dimensions (characteristics) that co-occur in premenopausal women. The second aim was to examine associations between multiple dimensions of sleep and a set of demographic, lifestyle, and health correlates. The overarching goal was to uncover patterns of poor-sleep correlates that might inform interventions to improve sleep health of women in this age group. MethodsThe BioCycle Study included 259 healthy women aged 18–44y recruited between 2005 and 2007 from Western New York. Participants reported sleep data through daily diaries and questionnaires that were used to create five sleep health dimensions (duration, variability, timing, latency, and continuity). We used multivariate analysis – canonical correlation methods – to identify links among dimensions of sleep health and patterns of demographic, psychological, and occupational correlates. ResultsTwo distinct combinations of sleep dimensions were identified. The first - primarily determined by low variability in nightly sleep duration, low variability in bedtime (timing), greater nocturnal awakening, and less sleep onset latency – was distinguished from the second – primarily determined by sleep duration.The first combination of sleep dimensions was associated with older age and higher parity, fewer depressive symptoms, and higher stress level. The second combination of sleep dimensions was associated with perception of longer sleep duration as optimal, lower parity, not engaging in shift work, older age, lower stress level, higher prevalence of depressive symptoms, and White race. ConclusionAmong premenopausal women, we demonstrated distinct patterns of sleep dimensions that co-occur and vary by demographic, health, and lifestyle correlates. These findings shed light on the correlates of sleep health vulnerabilities among young women.

The Usefulness of Virtual Reality in Symptom Management during Chemotherapy in Lung Cancer Patients: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Background: Virtual reality (VR) emerges as a promising non-pharmacological intervention for managing symptoms and providing distraction during chemotherapy. This study aims to assess VR's effectiveness on cancer-related symptoms, vital signs, and the patients' perception of chemotherapy in lung cancer patients. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted on 100 patients. Participants were allocated into an intervention group (n = 55), which experienced immersive VR, and a comparison group (n = 45), which received usual care. Data were collected through questionnaires and checklists, including feedback on the VR experience, pain, vital signs, and common cancer symptoms, assessed through the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale. Results: VR had a significant impact on reducing the perception of chemotherapy length. Patients reported high levels of satisfaction and tolerability. No adverse events were observed. VR did not have significant influence on pain intensity or vital signs. The only exceptions were oxygen saturation, where a significant difference (p = 0.02) was reported, and the perception of chemotherapy duration. Conclusions: As a non-pharmacological intervention, VR proves to be beneficial in minimizing the perceived length of chemotherapy sessions for lung cancer patients, enhancing their overall treatment experience. The intervention was found to be a safe, feasible, and well-accepted distraction technique. Future research should explore VR's potential effects on a wider range of symptoms and evaluate its impact on long-term outcomes.

What Predicts a Longer Period of Pain in Patients Referred to an Interdisciplinary Center for Pain Care?

Chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) is a global health condition that affects thousands of people. CMP can substantially affect the functional capacity and quality of life of the people impacted, resulting in high costs for health care and social security systems. Sociodemographic factors may play a significant role in pain chronification prevention and control programs. Thus, current risk factors for CMP must be seriously considered as part of an interdisciplinary management strategy. The purpose of the study was to identify the primary sociodemographic characteristics of CMP patients at a multidisciplinary and specialized center for chronic pain. This is a retrospective investigation based on a review of medical records. Age, gender, income, and the time of onset of pain symptoms were among the variables included in the analyzed data. To analyze variables related to the duration of discomfort, a multiple regression model was utilized. Sociodemographic factors explained 37.94% of experiencing prolonged pain, according to the study's findings. Being female and having a family income above the minimum wage were variables that were directly proportional to discomfort duration. Age was not associated with a prolonged duration of pain perception.

Retrospective attention: The effects on time perception.

Attention has a significant effect on time perception, as a person's perception of duration varies depending on the object of one's attention, even when the visual stimulus is consistent. This study aimed to identify the effects of directing participants' attention after a stimulus has disappeared on time perception, as prior studies have examined only pre-stimulus direction. The stimulus used comprised two overlapping figures - one large and one small. After the stimulus was removed, participants were asked to judge the length of the presentation time and shape of one of the two figures. Consequently, the participants perceived a longer presentation duration when their attention was directed to a large figure than when directed to a small figure. This finding suggests that even after an event has occurred, the time perception of the event changes depending on the feature receiving one's attention.

Perception of task duration affects metabolic cost during split-belt adaptation.

Humans continuously adapt locomotor patterns. Whether metabolic cost reduction is the primary objective or a by-product of the observed biomechanical changes during adaptation is not known. The main goal of our study is to determine if perception of task duration affects the adaptation of locomotor patterns to reduce energetic cost during split-belt walking. We tested the hypothesis that individuals who believe they will sustain a locomotor adaptation task for a prolonged time will reduce metabolic cost by adapting toward a walking pattern associated with lower mechanical work. N=14 participants walked on a split-belt treadmill for 10 minutes with knowledge of task duration (group K), while N=15 participants performed the task under the assumption that they would walk for 30 minutes (group U). Both groups walked for 10 minutes with the belts moving at 1.5 and 0.5 m/s, followed by 6 minutes of walking with both belts at 1.0 m/s. We observed a significant main effect of Time (p<0.001, observed power 1.0) and the interaction of Time×Group (p=0.004, observed power 0.84) on metabolic cost. Participants in the U group had a metabolic cost that was 12% lower during adaptation compared to the K group, which did not reduce metabolic cost during adaptation. The metabolic cost reduction observed in group U was not associated with biomechanical changes during adaptation. Our results indicate that metabolic cost reduction has a primary role in tasks that need to be sustained for a prolonged time, and this reduction is not only related to biomechanical factors.

One-day listen-and-repeat training of a non-native vowel duration contrast for speakers of Namibian languages

Abstract Listen-and-repeat training has previously been successfully used to train the perception and production of non-native vowel quality and duration contrasts. This study used a one-day listen-and-repeat training paradigm for the production of a non-native vowel duration contrast, /tite – tiːte/ with no feedback or other instructions. Learning results were assessed by acoustic analysis of the produced durations, and identification of the productions by listeners with quantity contrasts in their native Finnish language. Training participants were 18 Namibian speakers of various Bantu and Khoe languages. The results showed that the majority of the speakers did not produce a consistent acoustic duration contrast between the target words. In the identification task, the listeners’ performance was at essentially chance level for almost all of the speakers. The results are discussed in terms of earlier results using the same stimuli, training design and language background.

Reduced processing of afforded actions while observing mental content as ongoing mental phenomena

While consciousness is typically considered equivalent to mental contents, certain meditation practices—including open monitoring (OM)—are said to enable a unique conscious state where meditators can experience mental content from a de-reified perspective as “ongoing phenomena.” Phenomenologically, such a state is considered as reduction of intentionality, the mental act upon mental content. We hypothesised that this de-reified state would be characterised by reduced mental actional processing of affording objects. We recruited two groups of participants, meditators with long-term experience in cultivating a de-reified state, and demographically-matched novice meditators. Participants performed a task with images in two configurations—where objects did (high-affordance) and did not imply actions (low-affordance)—following both a baseline and OM-induced de-reified state, along with EEG recordings. While long-term meditators exhibited preferential processing of high-affordance images compared to low-affordance images during baseline, such an effect was abolished during the OM state, as hypothesised. For novices, however, the high-affordance configuration was preferred over the low-affordance one both during baseline and OM. Perceptual durations of objects across conditions positively correlated with the degree of µ-rhythm desynchronization, indicating that neural processing of affordance impacted perceptual awareness. Our results indicate that OM styles of meditation may help in mentally decoupling otherwise automatic cognitive processing of mental actions by affording objects.

Impact of speech rate on perception of vowel and consonant duration by bilinguals and monolinguals.

The perceptual boundary between short and long categories depends on speech rate. We investigated the influence of speech rate on perceptual boundaries for short and long vowel and consonant contrasts by Spanish-English bilingual listeners and English monolinguals. Listeners tended to adapt their perceptual boundaries to speech rates, but the strategy differed between groups, especially for consonants. Understanding the factors that influence auditory processing in this population is essential for developing appropriate assessments of auditory comprehension. These findings have implications for the clinical care of older populations whose ability to rely on spectral and/or temporal information in the auditory signal may decline.

THE IMPACT OF DEPRESSION AMONG PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN

This scientific article has the objectives to examine the impact of depression on people experiencing chronic low back pain. Recognizing the bidirectional relationship between these conditions, the study aims to elucidate the various consequences of depressive symptoms on pain perception, functional impairment and overall quality of life among patients with chronic low back pain. Material and methods: A systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted to identify relevant studies, clinical trials and meta-analyses published between 1990 and 2023. The search included electronic databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. Results: Literature synthesis reveals that depression significantly amplifies the symptomatology of chronic low back pain, influencing various areas of a patient’s life. Key findings include decreased pain threshold by exacerbating the perception of pain intensity and duration, slowing the recovery and rehabilitation process, and decreasing health-related quality of life, highlighting the need for a multidisciplinary approach to both conditions. Conclusion: The article highlights the pervasive and interconnected nature of depression and chronic low back pain. The issues presented highlight the profound impact of depression on patients with chronic low back pain, highlighting the importance of integrated interventions that address both physical and mental health aspects of those affected. Keywords: depression, chronic low back pain, rehabilitation, pain threshold.