PerPsych: An iPadOS-based open-source neuropsychological software for time perception assessment

Deficits in rhythm perception and production have been reported in a variety of psychiatric, neurodevelopmental and neurologic disorders. Since correlations between rhythmic abilities and cognitive functions have been demonstrated in neurotypical individuals, we here investigate whether and how rhythmic abilities are associated with cognitive functions in 35 participants with neurocognitive deficits due to acquired brain lesions. We systematically assessed a diverse set of rhythm perception and production abilities including time and beat perception and finger-tapping tasks. Neuropsychological tests were applied to assess separable cognitive functions. Using multiple regression analyses we show that lower variability in aligning movements to a pacing sequence was predicted by better inhibitory control and better working memory performance. Working memory performance also predicted lower variability of rhythmic movements in the absence of an external pacing sequence and better anticipatory timing to sequences with gradual tempo changes. Importantly, these predictors remained significant for all regression models when controlling for other cognitive variables (i.e., cognitive flexibility, information processing speed, and verbal learning ability) and potential confounders (i.e., age, symptom strength of depression, manual dexterity, duration of illness, severity of cognitive impairment, and musical experience). Thus, all rhythm production abilities were significantly predicted by measures of executive functions. In contrast, rhythm perception abilities (time perception/beat perception) were not predicted by executive functions in this study. Our results, enhancing the understanding of cognitive underpinnings of rhythmic abilities in individuals with neurocognitive deficits, may be a first mandatory step to further potential therapeutic implications of rhythm-based interventions in neuropsychological rehabilitation.

Impaired decision-making and time perception in individuals with stroke: Behavioral and neural correlates

Comparison of time perception in individuals between focal and generalized epilepsy.

Experimental studies on the perception of time using the ‘psychophysical method of reproduction’ with visual stimuli of various lengths have been reported (12, 13, 14, 15). In such studies the field has been limited to investigations concerning intervals and in a few studies to the estimation of duration. But data on temporal duration appear to be too scanty to permit definite conclusions. There are few studies with auditory presentation. One such reports an important finding: ‘An increase of intensity of sound leads to overestimation of its duration and to obtain the same relative effect of over-estimation the level of intensity should be stronger than the extent of duration’ (10). A report on the perception of the duration of sound of increasing intensity indicates that temporal perception is not independent of the processes which intervene during the time perception (5). In an investigation where observers were required to estimate five time-durations, one by one, it was concluded that estimates rise approximately linearly with visual presentation though a reverse trend appeared in case of auditory presentation (3). The effect of auditory and visual background on the estimation of duration show that under control conditions, durations of 1, 2, and 4 sec, were overestimated, 8 sec. was reproduced correctly while 16 sec. was underestimated (7).

Time perception may vary depending on one's surroundings. Four studies examined whether time feels slower in nature compared to urban settings. Participants viewed images of nature or urban settings (Study 1), viewed a video of a walk through a forest or city via virtual reality headsets (Study 2), imagined themselves walking down a forest path or a city street (Study 3), and actually walked by a river or through campus tunnels (Study 4). Time perception was measured through subjective duration estimates (Study 1, 2, 3, 4) and objective duration estimates in minutes/seconds (Study 1, 2, 4). Across studies, the surroundings affected time estimates. Participants estimated the objective duration (Study 4) and subjective duration (Study 2, 3, 4) of the nature stimuli as significantly longer than urban stimuli. This research contributes to both time perception and environmental literature and may be applied in everyday time management.

While user's perception and performance are predominantly examined independently in virtual reality, the Action-Specific Perception (ASP) theory postulates that the performance of an individual on a task modulates this individual's spatial and time perception pertinent to the task's components and procedures. This paper examines the association between performance and perception and the potential effects that tactile feedback modalities could generate. This paper reports a user study (N=24), in which participants performed a standardized Fitts's law target acquisition task by using three feedback modalities: visual, visuo-electrotactile, and visuo-vibrotactile. The users completed 3 Target Sizes × 2 Distances × 3 feedback modalities = 18 trials. The size perception, distance perception, and (movement) time perception were assessed at the end of each trial. Performance-wise, the results showed that electrotactile feedback facilitates a significantly better accuracy compared to vibrotactile and visual feedback, while vibrotactile provided the worst accuracy. Electrotactile and visual feedback enabled a comparable reaction time, while the vibrotactile offered a substantially slower reaction time than visual feedback. Although amongst feedback types the pattern of differences in perceptual aspects were comparable to performance differences, none of them was statistically significant. However, performance indeed modulated perception. Significant action-specific effects on spatial and time perception were detected. Changes in accuracy modulate both size perception and time perception, while changes in movement speed modulate distance perception. Also, the index of difficulty was found to modulate all three perceptual aspects. However, individual differences appear to affect the magnitude of action-specific effects. These outcomes highlighted the importance of haptic feedback on performance, and importantly the significance of action-specific effects on spatial and time perception in VR, which should be considered in future VR studies.

RationaleImpairment in time perception, a critical component of decision-making, represents a risk factor for psychiatric conditions including substance abuse. A therapeutic that ameliorates this impairment could be advantageous in the treatment of impulsivity and decision-making disorders.ObjectivesHere we hypothesize that the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor tolcapone, which increases dopamine tone in frontal cortex (Ceravolo et al Synapse 43:201–207, 2002), improves time perception, with predictive behavioral, genetic, and neurobiological components.MethodsSubjects (n = 66) completed a duration estimation task and other behavioral testing in each of two sessions after receiving a single oral dose of tolcapone (200 mg) or placebo in randomized, double-blind, counterbalanced, crossover fashion. Resting state fMRI data were obtained in a subset of subjects (n = 40). Subjects were also genotyped for the COMT (rs4680) polymorphism.ResultsTime perception was significantly improved across four proximal time points ranging from 5 to 60 s (T(524) = 2.04, p = 0.042). The degree of this improvement positively correlated with subjective measures of stress, depression, and alcohol consumption and was most robust in carriers of the COMT Val158 allele. Using seed regions defined by a previous meta-analysis (Wiener et al Neuroimage 49:1728–1740, 2010), we found not only that a connection from right inferior frontal gyrus (RIFG) to right putamen decreases in strength on tolcapone versus placebo (p < 0.05, corrected), but also that the strength of this decrease correlates inversely with the increase in duration estimation on tolcapone versus placebo (r = − 0.37, p = 0.02).ConclusionsCompressed time perception can be ameliorated by administration of tolcapone. Additional studies should be conducted to determine whether COMT inhibitors may be effective in treating decision-making disorders and addictive behaviors.

Considerable research has shown that theperception of time can be distorted subjectively, but little empirical work has examined what factors affect time perception in film, a naturalistic multimodal stimulus. Here, we explore the effect of sensory modality, arousal, and valence on how participants estimate durations in film. Using behavioral ratings combined with pupillometry in a within-participants design, we analyzed responses to and duration estimates of film clips in three experimental conditions: audiovisual (containing music and sound effects), visual (without music and sound effects), and auditory (music and sound effects without a visual scene). Participants viewed clips from little-known nature documentaries, fiction, animation, and experimental films. They were asked to judge clip duration and to report subjective arousal and valence, as their pupil sizes were recorded. Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Results reveal duration estimates varied between experimental conditions. Clip durations were judged to be shorter than actual durations in all three conditions, with visual-only clips perceived as longer (i.e., less distorted in time) than auditory-only and audiovisual clips. High levels of Composite Arousal (an average of self-reported arousal and pupil size changes) were correlated with longer (more accurate) estimates of duration, particularly in the audiovisual modality. This effect may reflect stimulus complexity or greater cognitive engagement. Increased ratings of valence were correlated with longer estimates of duration. The use of naturalistic, complex stimuli such as film can enhance our understanding of the psychology of time perception.

<p id="p00005">Intertemporal decision-making is very frequent in life, and they require individuals to weigh the outcomes at different points of time before making a choice. Time and value are the basic dimensions of intertemporal decision-making, and decision-makers have to consider value as well as more about the impact of time interval. Although many studies have explored the value dimension, there are still many doubts in the time dimension. A growing body of research suggests that people's subjective perception of the time interval, as opposed to the objective time interval, is the direct factor influencing the intertemporal decision. Therefore, the traditional exponential discount and hyperbolic models do not explain the variability in intertemporal decision-making in terms of time perception. How does time perception affect individuals' intertemporal decision-making? What are the theoretical and neural mechanisms behind the role of time perception? What are the shortcomings of the existing theoretical models? Answering these queries is essential for further research on the relationship between time perception and intertemporal decision-making. <br/>The role of time perception on intertemporal decision-making mainly consists of three ways: (1) Time length perception, which refers to people's subjective estimation of the distance of delay time. The shorter the perceived time length, the less patience people have to wait for the delayed benefit. (2) Time resource perception, which refers to the estimation of how much time resources people have at their disposal. The less time resources people perceive, the more they prefer immediate benefits. (3) Time frame perception, which refers to the change of time description will affect individuals' decision preferences. For example, when the direction of time points to the future, and people are more likely to magnify the value of future gains subjectively. <br/>In terms of the neural mechanisms underlying the role of temporal perception, intertemporal decision-making at the micro-level is closely related to the activation of temporal length perception, subjective value assessment, and impulsivity-related brain regions. In contrast, intertemporal decision-making is closely related to cortico-limbic-striatal neural circuits at the macro level. Researchers have proposed different theoretical models to explain the behavioral dimension of the role of temporal perception. The mainstream theories mainly include the logarithmic/exponential time discount model, the perceived time based model, and the multi-attribute drift diffusion model. The logarithmic/exponential time discount model is constructed based on the exponential discount model, which replaces the original objective time distance with time length perception. The perceived time based model is built to describe the variability of individual time perception. The Multi-attribute drift diffusion model is mainly used to describe the contribution of the attention to the time or value dimension of the decision-making. We believe that the above models only expose the mechanism of time perception from one aspect of the psychological process and lack a unified theory to describe the process of intertemporal decision-making as a whole. In general, the existing models have two limitations: (1) The effect of time perception on intertemporal decision-making differs between the long and short time spacing conditions. (2) People's preferences for intertemporal decision-making differ in actual and expected situations. In order to more accurately describe and explain the psychological mechanism of time perception influencing intertemporal decision making, future studies should strengthen the exploration of the process mechanism and try to construct a unified theoretical model of time perception-intertemporal decision making. Meanwhile, the study of neurophysiological mechanisms should be strengthened, from which the rationality of the theoretical model can be verified. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the application value of the research and design the training method of time perception to reduce the probability of people's irrational decision-making.

Depression has long been associated with disturbances in the experience of time. Cognitive models of temporal perception account for this phenomenon by suggesting depression-induced anxiety increases arousal, which speeds up a central pacemaker and causes temporal dilation. Experimental studies, however, have thus far found no correlation between symptoms of depression and estimates of temporal distortion. Arguing against the usefulness of absolute measures of timing and drawing from recent findings indicating that actual and imaginary movement can alter time perception, we explored whether movement imagery could play a role in shaping the relationship between depression and time perception. An exploratory experiment (N = 87) was conducted in which imaginary accelerating or decelerating movements were carried out while performing a verbal estimation task. Findings replicated previous results showing imaginary acceleration increased duration estimates while imaginary deceleration reduced these. More interestingly, sub-clinical symptoms of depression, as measured using the BDI, predicted the degree to which movement affected time perception. To confirm the findings, a replication experiment was conducted in a large, cross-cultural sample (N = 289). Although the main effect of movement imagery on timing remained in line with previous studies, no correlation with BDI was observed. Bayesian analysis argued in favor of the null-hypothesis, indicating no reliable association between depressive symptoms and the effect of movement imagery on time perception. We discuss remaining avenues to explore on the relations between depression, movement, and time perception, and underline the need to close the gap between clinical reports and experimental data regarding temporal biases in mood disorders.

The perception of time is likely to be lengthened when estimates of duration are delayed rather than given immediately as reported by Vitulli and Crimmins in 1999. The present study sought boundary conditions for this robust effect. A multivariate analysis of variance showed a reliable main effect for delay of estimation, yet comparisons between auditory versus visual short-term memory tasks showed no differences in time estimations. The analysis showed weak interactions between sex and delay of estimation and between sex and delay of estimation on Jenkins Activity Survey-Job Involvement scores.

Psychological disorders are associated with a wide variety of distortions of time perception. In this paper, I briefly review what is known about time perception and its disorders and suggest that the practice of mindfulness may be effective by virtue of its effect on our relationship with time.

Introduction: Chronic use of psychoactive substances has been associated with various cognitive impairments. Also, it has been described that an associated cognitive impairment is one of the long-term consequences of having a mental illness. The coexistence of an addiction with at least one other mental illness is quite frequent. Little has been published about cognitive impairments in dual diagnosis patients in Colombia. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study with primary data was carried out in 31 patients with a dual diagnosis who were admitted to the Centro de Atención de Patología Dual (Dual Diagnosis Care Center) of the Clínica del Oriente between June and December 2017. The psychiatric diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV-TR and neuropsychological tests were used. Results: It was found that 90.9% of the patients had alterations in the medial orbital cortex; 54.5% in the anterior prefrontal cortex; and 45.5% in the dorsolateral cortex; 72.7% had alterations in sustained attention; 59.1% in alternating attention; and 81.8% in executive functions. Conclusions: 100% of patients with dual pathology suffer from cognitive impairments, which pose significant challenges in their rehabilitation process. For this reason, the inclusion of neuropsychological therapies should be considered in addition to comprehensive management.

We investigated whether standardized neuropsychological tests and experimental cognitive paradigms measure the same cognitive faculties. Specifically, do neuropsychological tests commonly used to assess attention measure the same construct as attention paradigms used in cognitive psychology and neuroscience? We built on the “general attention factor”, comprising several widely used experimental paradigms (Huang et al., 2012). Participants (n = 636) completed an on-line battery (TestMyBrain.org) of six experimental tests [Multiple Object Tracking, Flanker Interference, Visual Working Memory, Approximate Number Sense, Spatial Configuration Visual Search, and Gradual Onset Continuous Performance Task (Grad CPT)] and eight neuropsychological tests [Trail Making Test versions A & B (TMT-A, TMT-B), Digit Symbol Coding, Forward and Backward Digit Span, Letter Cancellation, Spatial Span, and Arithmetic]. Exploratory factor analysis in a subset of 357 participants identified a five-factor structure: (1) attentional capacity (Multiple Object Tracking, Visual Working Memory, Digit Symbol Coding, Spatial Span), (2) search (Visual Search, TMT-A, TMT-B, Letter Cancellation); (3) Digit Span; (4) Arithmetic; and (5) Sustained Attention (GradCPT). Confirmatory analysis in 279 held-out participants showed that this model fit better than competing models. A hierarchical model where a general cognitive factor was imposed above the five specific factors fit as well as the model without the general factor. We conclude that Digit Span and Arithmetic tests should not be classified as attention tests. Digit Symbol Coding and Spatial Span tap attentional capacity, while TMT-A, TMT-B, and Letter Cancellation tap search (or attention-shifting) ability. These five tests can be classified as attention tests.

Cognitive Impairment in Dialysis Patients: Focus on the Blood Vessels?