Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Do the young and the old perceive emotional intervals differently when shown on a younger or older face?

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Cognitive Processing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Many authors have analysed the effects of emotion recognition on time perception, showing that the more arousing the stimuli are the greater is the effect on duration perception. Visual stimuli, in particular faces, are the most recurrent stimuli employed in the literature. However, pictures in which emotional faces of older individuals have rarely been used, and when used, only young participants were tested. Hence, the present study is designed not only to analyse differences as regards duration perception in younger and older participants, but also to investigate the effects of neutral, happy, and angry facial expressions on younger and older participants when younger or older faces express those emotions. Results showed overestimation when emotional stimuli were presented. Interestingly, we observed temporal underestimation when the temporal intervals were marked by the image of younger participants and this was true in particular for older adults participants. Results are discussed in accordance with the internal clock model and in accordance with an inferential/reconstructive process occurring in memory and acting on temporal judgments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

Notes

  1. For all participants, the goodness-of-fit was satisfactory (younger adults R2 = 81; Older adults R2 = 72).

References

  • Andersen PA, Guerrero LK (eds) (1997) Handbook of communication and emotion: research, theory, applications and contexts. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Averill JR (2012) Anger and aggression: an essay on emotion. Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Balci F, Meck WH, Moore H, Brunner D (2009) Timing deficits in aging and neuropathology. In: Woods A, Bizon JL (eds) Animal Models of Human Cognitive Aging. Humana Press, Totowa, pp 1–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Battaglini L, Mioni G (2019) The effect of symbolic meaning of speed on time to contact. Acta Physiol (oxf) 199:102921

    Google Scholar 

  • Baudouin A, Vanneste S, Isingrini M, Pouthas V (2006) Differential involvement of internal clock and working memory in the production and reproduction of duration: a study on older adults. Acta Physiol (oxf) 121(3):285–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2005.07.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baudouin A, Isingrini M, Vanneste S (2018) Executive functioning and processing speed in age-related differences in time estimation: a comparison of young, old, and very old adults. Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 26(2):264–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/13825585.2018.1426715

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Block RA, Zakay D, Hancock PA (1998) Human aging and duration judgments: a meta-analytic review. Psychol Aging 13(4):584–596. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.13.4.584

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen LL, Isaacowitz DM, Charles ST (1999) Taking time seriously: a theory of socioemotional selectivity. Am Psychol 54:165–181

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen LL, Fung HH, Charles ST (2003) Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motiv Emot 27(2):103–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carstense LL, Mikels JA, Mather M (2006) Aging and the intersection of cognition, motivation, and emotion. In: Birren JE, Schaie KW, Abeles RP, Gatz M, Salthouse TA (eds) Handbook of the psychology of aging. Academic Press, Cambridge, pp 343–362

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chambon M, Droit-Volet S, Niedenthal PM (2008) The effect of embodying the elderly on time perception. J Exp Soc Psychol 44(3):672–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charles ST, Mather M, Carstensen LL (2003) Aging and emotional memory: the forgettable nature of negative images for older adults. J Exp Psychol Gen 132(2):310

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Droit-Volet S, Gil S (2009) The time–emotion paradox. Philos Trans Royal Soc B Biol Sci 364(1525):1943–1953

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Droit-Volet S, Meck WH (2007) How emotions colour our perception of time. Trends Cogn Sci 11(12):504–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Droit-Volet S, Brunot S, Niedenthal P (2004) Perception of the duration of emotional events. Cogn Emot 18(6):849–858. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930341000194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Droit-Volet S, Fayolle S, Gil S (2016) Emotion and time perception in children and adults: the effect of task difficulty. Timing Time Percept 4(1):7–29. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134468-03002055

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchenne GB, de Boulogne GBD (1990) The mechanism of human facial expression. Cambridge University Press

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ebner NC, Riediger M, Lindenberger U (2010) FACES—A database of facial expressions in young, middle-aged, and older women and men: development and validation. Behav Res Methods 42:351–362. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.42.1.351

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Effron DA, Niedenthal PM, Gil S, Droit-Volet S (2006) Embodied temporal perception of emotion. Emotion 6:1–9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman P, Davidson RJ, Friesen WV (1990) The Duchenne smile: emotional expression and brain physiology: II. J Pers Soc Psychol 58(2):342–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.2.342

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fama R, Sullivan EV (2015) Thalamic structures and associated cognitive functions: relations with age and aging. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 54:29–37

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang AG, Buchner A (2007) G* Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behav Res Methods 39(2):175–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR (1975) “Mini-mental state”: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res 12(3):189–198

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox E, Lester V, Russo R, Bowles RJ, Pichler A, Dutton K (2000) Facial expressions of emotion: Are angry faces detected more efficiently? Cogn Emot 14(1):61–92

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbon J, Church RM, Meck WH (1984) Scalar timing in memory. Ann N Y Acad Sci 423:52–77

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gil S, Droit-Volet S (2011) How do emotional facial expressions influence our perception of time? In: Masmoudi S, Dai DY, Naceur A (eds) Attention, representation, and human performance: integration of cognition, emotion and motivation. Psychology Press, New York, NY, USA, pp 61–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Gil S, Droit-Volet S (2012) Emotional time distortions: the fundamental role of arousal. Cogn Emot 26:847–862

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gil S, Niedenthal PM, Droit-Volet S (2007) Anger and time perception in children. Emotion 7(1):219–225. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.219

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grondin S, Meilleur-Wells G, Lachance R (1999) When to start explicit counting in a time-intervals discrimination task: a critical point in the timing process of humans. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 25(4):993–1004. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.25.4.993

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grondin S, Ouellet B, Roussel ME (2004) Benefits and limits of explicit counting for discriminating temporal intervals. Can J Exp Psychol 58:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0087436

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grondin S, Laflamme V, Gontier É (2014) Effect on perceived duration and sensitivity to time when observing disgusted faces and disgusting mutilation pictures. Atten Percept Psychophys 76(6):1522–1534

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grondin S, Laflamme V, Bienvenue P, Labonté K, & Roy ML (2015) Sex effect in the temporal perception of faces expressing anger and shame. Int J Comp Psychol, 28

  • Grühn D, Smith J, Baltes PB (2005) No aging bias favoring memory for positive material: evidence from a heterogeneity-homogeneity list paradigm using emotionally toned words. Psychol Aging 20(4):579

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guerrero LK, Andersen PA, Trost MR (1996) Communication and emotion: basic concepts and approaches. In: Andersen PA, Guerrero LK (eds) Handbook of communication and emotion. Academic Press, Cambridge, pp 3–27

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • IBM Corp. Released (2012) IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp

  • Isaacowitz DM, Löckenhoff CE, Lane RD, Wright R, Sechrest L, Riedel R et al (2007) Age differences in recognition of emotion in lexical stimuli and facial expressions. Psychol Aging 22:147–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.22.1.147

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson LW, MacKay DG (2019) Relations between emotion, memory encoding, and time perception. Cogn Emot 33(2):185–196

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keshavarz B, Landwehr K, Baurès R, Oberfeld D, Hecht H (2010) Age-correlated incremental consideration of velocity information in relative time-to-arrival judgments. Ecol Psychol 22:212–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2010.496670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopec CD, Brody CD (2010) Human performance on the temporal bisection task. Brain Cogn 74(3):262–272

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lake JI, LaBar KS, Meck WH (2016) Emotional modulation of interval timing and time perception. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 64:403–420

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lamotte M, Droit-Volet S (2017) Aging and time perception for short and long durations: a question of attention? Timing Time Percept 5(2):149–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee KH, Seelam K, O’Brien T (2011) The relativity of time perception produced by facial emotion stimuli. Cogn Emot 25(8):1471–1480

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis PA, Miall RC (2003) Brain activation patterns during measurement of sub-and supra-second intervals. Neuropsychologia 41(12):1583–1592

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lui MA, Penney TB, Schirmer A (2011) Emotion effects on timing: attention versus pacemaker accounts. PLoS ONE 6(7):e21829

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lustig C (2003) Grandfather’s clock: attention and interval timing in older adults. In: Meck WH (ed) Functional and neural mechanisms of interval timing. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 261–293

    Google Scholar 

  • Lustig C, Meck WH (2001) Paying attention to time as one gets older. Psychol Sci 12:478–483

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mather M, Carstensen LL (2003) Aging and attentional biases for emotional faces. Psychol Sci 14(5):409–415

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mather M, Canli T, English T, Whitfield S, Wais P, Ochsner K, Carstensen LL (2004) Amygdala responses to emotionally valenced stimuli in older and younger adults. Psychol Sci 15(4):259–263

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews WJ, Meck WH (2016) Temporal cognition: connecting subjective time to perception, attention, and memory. Psychol Bull 142(8):865–907. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000045

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCormack T, Brown GD, Maylor EA, Darby RJ, Green D (1999) Developmental changes in time estimation: comparing childhood and old age. Dev Psychol 35(4):1143–1155. https://doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.35.4.1143

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mioni G, Zakay D, Grondin S (2015) Faster is briefer: the symbolic meaning of speed influences time perception. Psychon Bull Rev 22(5):1285–1291

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mioni G, Meligrana L, Grondin S, Perini F, Bartolomei L, Stablum F (2016) Effects of emotional facial expression on time perception in patients with Parkinson’s disease. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 22(9):890–899

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mioni G, Grondin S, Meligrana L, Perini F, Bartolomei L, Stablum F (2018) Effects of happy and sad facial expressions on the perception of time in Parkinson’s disease patients with mild cognitive impairment. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 40(2):123–138

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mioni G, Meligrana L, Perini F, Marcon M, Stablum F (2019) Lack of temporal impairment in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Front Integr Neurosci 13:42

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mioni G, Capizzi M, Stablum F (2020a) Age-related changes in time production and reproduction tasks: involvement of attention and working memory processes. Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 27(3):412–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mioni G, Grondin S, Stablum F (2020b) Do i dislike what you dislike? Investigating the effect of disgust on time processing. Psychol Res 1–13

  • Mzrozek DK, Kolarz CM (1998) The effect of age on positive and negative affect: a developmental perspective on happiness. J Pers Soc Psychol 75:1333–1349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nather FC, Bueno JL, Bigand E, Droit-Volet S (2011) Time changes with the embodiment of another’s body posture. PLoS ONE 6(5):e19818

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nicol JR, Tanner J, Clarke K (2013) Perceived duration of emotional events: evidence for a positivity effect in older adults. Exp Aging Res 39(5):565–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2013.839307

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paraskevoudi N, Balcı F, Vatakis A (2018) “Walking” through the sensory, cognitive, and temporal degradations of healthy aging. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1426(1):72–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penney TB, Cheng X (2018) Duration bisection: a user’s guide. In: Vatakis A, Balcı F, Di Luca M, Correa Á (eds) Timing and time perception: procedures measures applications. Brill, Netherlands, pp 98–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Psychology Software Tools, Inc. [E-Prime 2.0]. (2016). Retrieved from https://support.pstnet.com/

  • Ruffman T, Henry JD, Livingstone V, Phillips LH (2008) A meta-analytic review of emotion recognition and aging: implications for neuropsychological models of aging. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 32(4):863–881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.01.001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro L (2019) Embodied cognition. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smith SD, McIver TA, Di Nella MS, Crease ML (2011) The effects of valence and arousal on the emotional modulation of time perception: evidence for multiple stages of processing. Emotion 11(6):1305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan S, Ruffman T, Hutton SB (2007) Age differences in emotion recognition skills and the visual scanning of emotion faces. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 62(1):53–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tavris C (1989) Anger: the misunderstood emotion. Simon and Schuster, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tipples J (2008) Negative emotionality influences the effects of emotion on time perception. Emotion 8(1):127–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.8.1.127

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tipples J (2010) Time flies when read taboo words. Psychon Bull Rev 17:563–568

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tipples J, Brattan V, Johnston P (2015) Facial emotion modulates the neural mechanisms responsible for short interval time perception. Brain Topogr 28(1):104–112

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Turgeon M, Lustig C, Meck WM (2016) Cognitive aging and time perception: roles of bayesian optimization and degeneracy. Front Aging Neurosci 8:102. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00102

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Vallet W, Laflamme V, Grondin S (2019) An EEG investigation of the mechanisms involved in the perception of time when expecting emotional stimuli. Biol Psychol 148:107777

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wearden JH, & Ferrara A (1995) Stimulus spacing effects in temporal bisection by humans. Q J Exp Psychol 48(4):289–310

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wearden JH, Wearden AJ, Rabbitt PM (1997) Age and IQ effects on stimulus and response timing. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 23(4):962–979. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.23.4.962

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The information in this manuscript and the manuscript itself have never been published either electronically or in print. There are no financial or other relationships that could be interpreted as a conflict of interest affecting this manuscript. This work was carried out within the scope of the project “use-inspired basic research”, for which the Department of General Psychology of the University of Padova has been recognised as “Dipartimento di Eccellenza [Department of Excellence]” by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. Each author has approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. The authors gratefully thank Giovanna Stornati for her help with English editing

Funding

This research has received no specific grant from any funding agency from either the commercial or the not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento Di Psicologia, Università Degli Studi Di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    L. Micillo

  2. Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padova, Italy

    F. Stablum & G. Mioni

Authors
  1. L. Micillo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F. Stablum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G. Mioni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Mioni.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no financial or other relationships that could be interpreted as a conflict of interest affecting this manuscript.

Ethical approval

The study was conducted in line with the guidelines of the Department of General Psychology, Padova University (Italy) and in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Handling editor: Katsumi Watanabe (Waseda University). Reviewers: Two researchers who prefer to remain anonymous.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Micillo, L., Stablum, F. & Mioni, G. Do the young and the old perceive emotional intervals differently when shown on a younger or older face?. Cogn Process 22, 691–699 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-021-01037-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-021-01037-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation