Emotional Time Distortion in Individuals with Depressive Traits

The aim of this study was to examine the perception of duration according to depression levels and how arousal and valence would affect time perception. The participants were classified according to a high-depressive group (n = 20) and a low-depressive group (n = 20), based on their depressive scores. We investigated the differences in the subjective perception of duration when the participants watched arousal-emotional pictures (positive-high arousal, positive-low arousal, negative-high arousal, and negative-low arousal). The results showed that overall, the high-depressive group perceived duration as slow compared to the low-depressive group. In addition, while experiencing negative emotions, the high-depressive group showed a slower distortion of time than the low-depressive group. These results suggested that application of distorted time perception to clinically depressive groups may be helpful in escaping the vicious cycle of depression.