Anaesthetics and time perception: A review

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Consciousness relies on subjective experience in the present moment.
• Temporal processing is crucial for establishing the perception of 'now'.
• Anesthetic drugs are a method for altering consciousness and can affect time perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the effects of anesthetic drugs on perceived duration.
• To investigate how different anesthetics impact the subjective passage of time.
• To identify gaps and propose future research directions in time perception under anesthesia.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of PubMed, PsycInfo, and ScienceDirect databases.
• Inclusion of 36 articles examining anesthetic drugs and time perception tasks.
• Categorization of studies based on effects on felt passage of time, interval timing, or motor timing.

Main Results:

• Ketamine was found to slow subjective time perception.
• GABAergic drugs were associated with speeding up subjective time perception.
• Anesthetics increased variability in short interval and motor timing tasks, and lengthened estimates of longer durations.

Conclusions:

• Anesthesia significantly impacts various aspects of time perception.
• Further systematic research is needed to clarify time perception under anesthesia.
• Investigating the overlap between consciousness and time perception can advance both fields.