Sex Differences in Time Perception During Smoking Abstinence

Time perception reflects individual differences in motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease

P02-243 - Neurocognition and temperament in borderline and schizotypal personality disorder

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

Time flies when you maximize — Maximizers and satisficers perceive time differently when making decisions

This study investigates the role of individual differences in time perception on task performance during teleoperation with latency. Long distance teleoperation induces latency, causing performance issues for the operator. Previous research demonstrated that individual differences in time perception predicted performance on a similar task, having participants navigate a radio controlled (RC) car around a track. This work extends the relationship into routes of varying course width to test whether differences in time perception predict movement over-/underestimation. Participants completed a time estimation task and a route navigation task while experiencing latency. In the time estimation task, participants estimated the duration of multiple visual stimuli (2 s or less). In the route navigation task, participants moved a virtual cube across a route. Each trial varied in the amount of latency and the amount of horizontal clearance in the track (4-10 m for a 1.2-m-long/wide cube). The results showed fairly consistent latency by time estimation and latency by clearance interaction effects on a wide set of trial-level variables, such as completion time, and action-level performance variables, such as time spent moving per move event. However, the results were not consistently in the predicted direction. Results suggest that clearance and timing affect performance across latency, at both the overall level (i.e., trial completion time) and at the action level (time spent moving). An open question remains as to how these contextual factors affect movement strategy selection.

Smoking cessation interventions often target expectancies about the consequences of smoking. Yet little is known about the way smoking-related expectancies vary across different contexts. Two internal contexts that are often linked with smoking relapse are states associated with smoking abstinence and alcohol consumption. This report presents a secondary analysis of data from two experiments designed to examine the influence of smoking abstinence, and smoking abstinence combined with alcohol consumption, on smoking-related outcome expectancies among heavy smokers and tobacco chippers (smokers who had consistently smoked no more than 5 cigarettes/day for at least 2 years). Across both experiments, smoking abstinence and alcohol consumption increased expectancies of positive reinforcement from smoking. In addition, alcohol consumption increased negative reinforcement expectancies among tobacco chippers, such that the expectancies became more similar to those of heavy smokers as tobacco chippers' level of subjective alcohol intoxication increased. Findings suggest that these altered states influence the way smokers evaluate the consequences of smoking, and provide insight into the link between smoking abstinence, alcohol consumption, and smoking behavior.

Effects of Abstinence From Smoking on Sleep and Daytime Sleepiness

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.

32 extraverted and 32 introverted college students rated the interest value and estimated the duration of 3-min. intervals filled with reading. There were 3 dull and 3 interesting readings. It was hypothesized that time perceptions of extraverts and introverts would differ when their interest in the task was dissimilar. But no personality differences in time perception and few in interest were found; both extraverts and introverts judged the intervals to be shorter when the reading was interesting.

The display duration of stimuli is overestimated due to the increase in phasic arousal induced by the stimuli or high levels of background arousal. A previous study demonstrated that display duration of items (2 s) was overestimated when a participant attempted to conceal one of the items so as not to be detected in the concealed information test (CIT). As the time perception remained the same between the item to be concealed and the other items, the overestimation was thought to be due to the high level of background arousal under the conceal condition. Duration of 2 s may be too long to examine the phasic arousal effect induced by the concealed item. The present study conducted three online experiments with shorter durations, that is, each of three items was presented with duration of 1, 0.5, and 2 s in Experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The participants were instructed to conceal one of the three items under the conceal condition and did not conceal any item in the innocent condition. The difference in time perception between the conceal and innocent conditions or between items under the conceal condition was observed in none of the three experiments. The result indicates that temporal overestimation does not occur when a participant is only concealing an object. Rather, temporal overestimation would occur only when the level of background arousal is amplified by the concealment.

Delay-discounting studies in neuroscience, psychology, and economics have been mostly focused on concepts of self-control, reward evaluation, and discounting. Another important relationship to consider is the link between intertemporal choice and time perception. We presented 50 college students with timing tasks on the range of seconds to minutes and intertemporal-choice tasks on both the time-scale of seconds and of days. We hypothesized that individual differences in time perception would influence decisions about short experienced delays but not long delays. While we found some evidence that individual differences in internal clock speed account for some unexplained variance between choices across time-horizons, overall our findings suggest a nominal contribution of the altered sense of time in intertemporal choice.

Despite significant research demonstrating the deleterious effects of tobacco abstinence on memory, and research showing substantial sex differences in nicotine withdrawal and memory processes, there has been scant work on how males and females might differ in the effects of tobacco abstinence on memory and cognition. Using a standard recognition memory task, we conducted a pilot study to examine how 24 hours of tobacco abstinence in moderate to heavy smokers would affect memory in males and females. Twenty-five moderate to heavy smokers were tested following a period of smoking normally and following 24 hours of tobacco abstinence. At each session, participants completed a recognition memory task in which items were studied under full- and divided-attention conditions (a standard manipulation of memory encoding) as well as tests of passive short-term and working memory (forward and backward digit span). Tobacco abstinence significantly reduced memory performance under full attention conditions for males but not for females. A significant main effect of smoking status in which abstinence significantly reduced performance, as well as a main effect of encoding condition (divided attention < full attention), were found. Our results demonstrate that there may be substantial sex differences in the cognitive effects of tobacco abstinence. While preliminary, the data suggest the need for further, more extensive study of how males and females differ during tobacco abstinence. Such information will inform the best strategies for tobacco cessation efforts.

Heightened negative affect during acute tobacco abstinence in women relative to men could be an important factor underlying sex differences in smoking motivation. However, little controlled experimental work addresses this hypothesis. The current study investigated sex differences in withdrawal-related negative affect, time to start smoking on a lab analogue smoking lapse task, and the interrelation between sex, withdrawal-related negative affect, and smoking lapse behavior. Following a baseline session, current smokers (women: n = 68, men: n = 131) attended two counterbalanced lab sessions (16 hours smoking abstinence and ad libitum smoking) during which they completed self-report measures of mood and withdrawal symptoms followed by a laboratory analogue smoking lapse task. In this task participants are monetarily rewarded for delaying smoking. Performance on this task serves as an analogue model of smoking lapse behavior by measuring smoker's capability to resist temptation to smoke under conditions where abstinence is advantageous. Females showed greater abstinence induced increases in composite negative affect as well as several particular negative affect states (i.e., POMS Anger, Anxiety, Depression, and Confusion, ps < .05) but no differences in abstinence induced changes in other forms of affect or craving. Females also exhibited marginally greater abstinence induced decreases in their willingness to delay smoking for money (p = .10), which was mediated by abstinence induced increases in anger (p < .05). These results suggest that differential sensitivity to abstinence induced negative affect, particularly anger, could underlie sex specific smoking patterns. Negative affect during tobacco abstinence may be an important factor for understanding and treating nicotine addiction in women.

Supplementary motor area activations predict individual differences in temporal-change sensitivity and its illusory distortions

Screening tools for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) help to identify individuals likely to have ADHD. Several screening scales are used for identifying adults with ADHD, based on criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The ADHD symptoms described in the DSM were originally developed to describe the behaviours of children, not adults, and focus on the triad of symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Clinical research and experience, however, have revealed additional dimensions of adult ADHD, such as hyperfocus, racing thoughts, emotional lability, impaired sleep, and differences in time perception. Commensurate with the conditions' growing recognition, the adult ADHD presentation requires rethinking. To understand better the ADHD symptomatology experienced by adults, qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 diagnosed adults. Using thematic analysis, nine themes of adult ADHD symptoms were identified. The first three themes map to the original triad of symptoms - attentional difficulties, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. A further three themes identified are briefly mentioned in the DSM - disorganisation, forgetfulness, and reduced activation. The final three themes are covered to some degree in the current rating scales but are absent from the DSM 5 - emotional lability, sleep difficulties, and time perception difficulties. This study highlights nine themes relevant to adult ADHD, six of which are absent from the DSM 5's triad. This research highlights gaps in current assessment tools and suggests symptoms that are more reflective of the adult experience of having ADHD.