Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Eye Movements in Visual Duration Perception: Disentangling Stimulus from Time in Predecisional Processes
Published on: January 19, 2024
The relativity of time perception produced by facial emotion stimuli
Kwang-Hyuk Lee1, Kalyan Seelam, Tom O'Brien
1Academic Clinical Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. k.h.lee@sheffield.ac.uk
Abstract:
We systematically examined the impact of emotional stimuli on time perception in a temporal reproduction paradigm where participants reproduced the duration of a facial emotion stimulus using an oval-shape stimulus or vice versa. Experiment 1 asked participants to reproduce the duration of an angry face (or the oval) presented for 2,000 ms. Experiment 2 included a range of emotional expressions (happy, sad, angry, and neutral faces as well as the oval stimulus) presented for different durations (500, 1,500, and 2,000 ms). We found that participants over-reproduced the durations of happy and sad faces using the oval stimulus. By contrast, there was a trend of under-reproduction when the duration of the oval stimulus was reproduced using the angry face. We suggest that increased attention to a facial emotion produces the relativity of time perception.
Related Concept Videos
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Physiological Theories: James-Lange Theory of Emotion
Cognitive Theories: Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion
Physiological Arousal and Cognitive Labeling
According to this theory, when an individual experiences physiological...
Emotional Expression
Universal Facial Expressions
Psychologist Paul Ekman identified seven basic...
Association Areas of the Cortex
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

