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

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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.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Notes

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

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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

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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

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  1. L. Micillo
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Correspondence to G. Mioni.

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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.

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

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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

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