Interactive effects of trait and state anxieties on time perception

Although some previous studies have investigated the time distortion of anxious patients, it remains open about the interactive effects of trait and state anxieties on time perception. In the present study, participants in high and low trait anxieties perceived 24 negative and 24 neutral words for 2 s in induced anxious and calm mood states, and their time perceptions were recorded by the time reproduction task. The results showed that high trait anxious individuals underestimated the 2-second duration while low trait anxious individuals overestimated the 2-second duration in the anxious state compared with those in the calm state. Meanwhile, in the anxious state, the timing error was absolute for high trait anxious individuals, whereas it was relative for low trait anxious individuals. The results show the interactive effects of trait and state anxieties on time perception. We suggest that the temporal distortion of the high trait anxious individuals in the anxious state might be due to an attentional dysfunction, whereas the temporal distortion of the low trait anxious individuals in the anxious state might be due to a mood congruency.