Category Archives: Psychological Science

SUBJECTIVITY OF TIME PERCEPTION

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People often acknowledge perceiving time differently across various situations. Common expressions acknowledge some of these experiences. “A watched pot never boils,” reflects upon time slowing down due to anticipation or perhaps increased attentiveness. “Time flies when you are having fun,” reveals the common experience of time speeding up during relaxed and entertaining activities.

But does time perception actually change across different experiences, or do people simply recall these experiences differently? Previous studies have examined how people perceive time across various experiences. Mostly, research has focused on perceived time duration during life-threatening situations; specifically the feeling that time slows to a near halt when a person experiences a perceived threat (Droit-Volet, Brunot, and Niedenthal, 2004)[1].

A new study focused on a divergent experience, attraction. Joana Arantes, a psychologist at the University of Canterbury, looked at the popular belief of “time seem[ing] to slow down, or stop, when [a person] falls in love at first sight.” The idiom, common in film and fiction, may provide an evolutionary advantage for reproduction by creating a more intense recall of an attractive individuals, representing reproductive fitness—or perhaps the experience might provide the observer with more information from which to make a decision.

TIME DURATION AND LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

The Scalar Expectancy Theory[2] is the leading explanation accommodating for the difference between perceived and actual time. Scalar timing bases perceptions of time on internal mechanisms, a pacemaker-accumulator system. When a person is aroused, such as in life-threatening situations, time seems to slow down because the pacemaker rate increases due to increased awareness and assessment of environmental stimuli. Dr. Arantes believes the timing system may have evolved to enhance reproductive success, and not just to prepare an individual for defensive actions. Her study specifically looked at how women estimate time after viewing an attractive man.

Gabor Disc

A Gabor disc, the neutral stimulus.

The study included twenty-seven female participants. During the experiment, participants were presented with five stimuli. The first four stimuli were considered neutral stimuli, a picture of Gabor discs. Each participant was expected to reproduce the duration of the fifth stimulus, during two two blocks of a 105 trials. In one block, the fifth stimulus could either be another neutral stimulus, a picture of an attractive male, a picture of an unattractive male. In the other block, the fifth stimulus could either be neutral, a picture of an attractive female, or a picture of an unattractive female.  Time duration estimates were measured across the three different conditions for each block. There were seven different stimulus durations, and each condition was measured five times for each duration.

This study seems to confirm the idea that time slows down “with love at first sight.” The perceived time duration significantly increased when the participants were presented with an attractive male stimulus, over all other conditions. The differences between female photos varied only slightly, but did show an overall increased duration over the neutral stimulus

QUESTIONS

Dr. Arantes suggests that reproductive fitness, represented by a photo of an attractive member of the opposite sex, increases arousal, and therefore perceived time. While the methodology presents a strong case for Dr. Arantes’s results, several questions.

  • It is unclear whether the participants found the pictures attractive or unattractive. The pictures were taken from internet sources and rated by 8 female raters. Attractive photos were of models and actors, while unattractive photos were taken from blogs and non-professional websites. Other (biometric?) measures might determine variations of attractiveness, such as observed pupil dilation, or other somatic responses.[3]
  • The study does not clearly relate attractiveness to mate selection, or how it might differ between genders.
  • Will the effects replicate with male participants?
  • What about persons with different sexual orientations? If they experience a similar effect with same-sex individuals, does this alter the idea that arousal and time duration relates to reproductive strengths?
  • How do increased time durations affect reproductive selection?

Dr. Arantes presents a strong, well-constructed case for her theories, but further evidence is needed to determine just how and why (or if) time perception influences “love at first sight.” She has received significant funding to follow up on her initial findings[4]. This funding will hopefully provide Dr. Arantes the opportunity to expand her original research and explore some of the questions propagated by the original study.

 

[1] Droit-Volet, S., Brunot, S., & Niedenthal, P. M. (2004). Perception of duration of emotional events. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 849.

[3] Hamann, S., Herman, R. A., Nolan, C. L., & Wallen, K. (2004). Men and women differe in amygdala response to visual sexual stimuli. Nature Neuroscience, 7(1), 411.

[4] Scoop Media (2013, November 3) UC psychology expoert studying origins of attraction. Scoop Independent News. Retrieved from http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1311/S00019/uc-psychology-expert-studying-origins-of-attraction.htm

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AUTISM & HYPERCONNECTIVITY

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HYPERACTIVITY


TYPICAL ACTIVITY VS. HYPERACTIVITY
Image from the 2013 Cell Reports Hyperactivity Study

 

“Our findings not only provide direct evidence for hyperconnectivity at the whole-brain level spanning multiple functional subsystems, but also demonstrate a link to core clinical symptoms in school-age children with ASD. More generally, this work challenges the notion of underconnectivity as the central neurobiological feature of ASD.”

A new study[1] examined the neural activity of both typical developing children, and children with autism. A team of researchers across three locations examined 110 children with a series of fMRI brain scans.
 
Autism affects nearly 1 in 88 children[2]. This study reversed findings from previous studies examining neural activity in the brain of adults with autism[3]. Researchers found significantly greater activity between neural connections. Several previous studies in adults reported weaker connections, leading to the belief that neurophysiological inactivity facilitated the diminished social communicative and increased repetitiveness of persons with autism—core criteria when diagnosing a person with autism[2].
 
The researchers believe the hyperactivity of signals found in children with autism inhibit the function of areas specifically responsible for communication and socialization.

“Drawing from these observations, it might not be too far fetched to speculate that the existing drugs used to treat epilepsy may be potentially useful in treating autism”

The authors presents epilepsy medication as a possible treatment. These findings may not only lead to new treatments, but also early detection. Lovaas found early intervention with intense behavioral techniques produced the best results, and lead some children on the spectrum to develop typically with their peers. The current age of diagnosis is three years old, and many authorities suggest parents should seek a diagnosis as early as two. The use of fMRI may provide a definitive diagnosis, and much early then two.

 

DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS

The findings are encouraging. While there is clearly a genetic basis, from twin studies, scientist have yet to pinpoint a single gene causing autism. Further, with such a variety of symptoms it is possible many different genes play a role, as well as environmental factors—most likely in-vitro [2].
 
Perhaps, these factors cause neurophysiolgical impairments, and the hyper-connectivity between neurons is an attempt to compensate for the functional deficiency of areas within the brain—instead of hyperactivity drowning those areas, as the study suggest. My previous post examined consciousness, and how neural connectivity may be the activity we call consciousness. What other illnesses might be due to malfunctioning connectivity between neurons, and what other insight might be gathered by examining consciousness and neuro-connectivity?
 
Without understanding the physiological nature of autism, treatment has been difficult. Behavioral modification techniques have been successful, pioneered by Lovaas. Perhaps these techniques alter neural responses in persons on the spectrum, similarly to how learning strengthens and builds neural activity specific to that learning.
 
Understanding the neurobiology is critical to developing treatment and providing early detection for children with autism. Future studies might look at difference between severity, or certain symptoms, on the spectrum, or may look into how different treatments alter neural patterns in children with autism. Autism is rife with miracle cures from pseudoscience, and a better understanding of the disease will help deflate the claims of alternative-medicine practitioners and miracle-men, many attempting to benefit from parents desperate to help their child develop “normally.”

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TUNE-IN Mondays for new posts, and look for new resource sections on the site in the next  few weeks!

[1] Supekar, K., Uddin, L. Q., Khouzam, A., Phillips, J., Gaillard, W. J., Kenworthy, L. E., Yerys, B. E. Vaidya, C. J., Menon, V. (2013). Brain hyperconnectivity in children with autism and its links to social deficits. Cell Reports, 5, 738.

[2] American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Autism Spectrum Disorder. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

[3] Kleinhans, N. M., Richards, T., Sterling, L., Stegbauer, K. C., Mahurin, R., Johnson, L. C., Greenson, J., Dawson, G., Aylward, E. (2008). Abnormal functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorders during face processing. Brain. 131(4), 1000.

 

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A SITE UPDATE / DISCOVERING CONSCIOUSNESS?

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No long post this week. I am taking time to do some site maintenance, add new pages, and clean-up some formatting issues.

 

In the mean time—I do wish to share an interesting study.

 

ScienceDaily recently covered a study revealing connections between consciousness and brain function. Psychologist at UCLA studied brain images in order to discover what happens as we enter an unconscious state.

“It turns out that when we lose consciousness, the communication among areas of the brain becomes extremely inefficient, as if suddenly each area of the brain became very distant from every other, making it difficult for information to travel from one place to another,” Monti said.

 

Their evidence points to consciousness, not as a function housed in any particular location, but as a product of activity and interactions between different areas of the brain.  The traditional theory places the thalamus—the deep, central compact portion of the brain—as the relay center and main component of the conscious mind, relaying signals between the different functional areas of the outer brain, known as cortex. Instead, activity during consciousness seems to flow across and within the various cortex, and the efficiency of the network, and of information processing, affects the functional level of consciousness.

 

What does this mean? It may help neuro-scientists detect the effectiveness of treatments and interventions, by analyzing the functional efficiency of information flowing across the cortical brain. The area requires a lot more research, but the UCLA team seems to have at least discovered an important aspect of the conscious mind.

 

Check out ScienceDaily’s article.

 

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If anyone has topic suggestions, studies, or areas you would like explored with greater depth, contact me via e-mail, twitter, google+—or just leave a comment!

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