Physiological Arousal and Time Estimation

The relations between four indices of arousal (heart rate, respiration rate, dominant EEG alpha rate, and an integrated score of EEG activity) and three methods of time estimation (verbal estimation, production, and tapping) were tested. 40 students, chosen according to their scores on the Taylor MAS, estimated short intervals under low and high (threat of shock) induced-arousal conditions. The data indicated relationships between dominant alpha rate and time estimation within each induced-arousal condition (thus supporting Hoagland's chemical clock hypothesis) and between heart rate and time estimation within the high induced-arousal condition. No significant differences in time estimation by any method between induced-arousal conditions were found. Physiological and psychological differences between induced and chronic arousal states are pointed out and the meaning of the results for the concept of arousal is discussed.

[1]  Carney Landis,et al.  STUDIES OF EMOTIONAL REACTIONS: IV. Metabolic Rate , 1925 .

[2]  H. Hoagland.  ELECTRICAL BRAIN WAVES AND TEMPERATURE. , 1936, Science.

[3]  J. W. Thiesen.  Effects of certain forms of emotion on the normal electroencephalogram , 1943 .

[4]  A. Rabin,et al.  Temporal experience. , 1960, Psychological bulletin.

[5]  Thyroid function and activity, speed, and timing aspects of behaviour. , 1959, Canadian journal of psychology.

[6]  G. Hawkes,et al.  Autonomic effects on estimates of time: evidence for a physiological correlate of temporal experience. , 1961, Report. Army Medical Research Laboratory.

[7]  A. Silverstein,et al.  Influence of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) on subjective time. , 1959, A.M.A. archives of general psychiatry.

[8]  A W SIEGMAN,et al.  Intercorrelation of Some Measures of Time Estimation , 1962, Perceptual and motor skills.

[9]  F. Griffin,et al.  BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF TIME IN RELATION TO (MODEL) PSYCHOSES * , 1962, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[10]  A. Mundy-castle.  Electrical responses of the brain in relation to behaviour. , 1953, British journal of psychology.

[11]  An examination of the varying effect of certain stimuli upon the alpha rhythm of a single normal individual. , 1946, The British journal of psychology. General section.

[12]  Hudson Hoagland,et al.  PACEMAKERS OF HUMAN BRAIN WAVES IN NORMALS AND IN GENERAL PARETICS , 1936 .

[13]  J. Lacey.  Somatic response patterning and stress : some revisions of activation theory , 1967 .

[14]  A. Mundy-castle,et al.  The psychophysiological significance of the galvanic skin response. , 1953, Journal of experimental psychology.

[15]  E. B. Skaggs.  Studies in attention and emotion. , 1930 .

[16]  E. D. Wiersma.  Lectures on Psychiatry , 1933 .

[17]  J. Taylor,et al.  A personality scale of manifest anxiety. , 1953, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[18]  M. M. Schnore,et al.  Individual patterns of physiological activity as a function of task differences and degree of arousal. , 1959, Journal of experimental psychology.

[19]  H. Hoagland.  TEMPERATURE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE "BERGER RHYTHM" IN MAN. , 1936, Science.

[20]  J. Hunt,et al.  Personality and the behavior disorders , 1944 .

[21]  J. Taylor.  Drive theory and manifest anxiety. , 1956, Psychological bulletin.

[22]  Hyperthermia, hyperthyroidism, and time judgement. , 1963, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[23]  J. McV,et al.  Personality and Behavior Disorders , 1946, Mental Health.

[24]  A. Mundy-castle.  An analysis of central responses to photic stimulation in normal adults. , 1953, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.