Description
This episode, I talk to Saeedeh Sadeghi (Cornell University) and Irena Arslanova (Royal Holloway - London) about the heart and time perception. If you have ever been in a car accident, you might have felt as if time was slowing down. Some previous studies have tried to explain this phenomenon and argued that a state of 'arousal' may slow down time (subjectively). This year, Saeedeh and Irena published two papers showing how not average heart rate but heart dynamics on the sub-second scale influence time perception. Within a single cardiac cycle, time may contract and expand. We go in-depth on the methodology and findings of their papers, and make links to interoception, predictive coding, meditation, breathing, psychoactive substances, and the many time perception theories out there. At the end, we also talk about science communication and their future research plans.
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) - Saeedeh's and Irena's background
(00:05:09) - Does 'arousal' slow down time?
(00:12:20) - Virtual Reality subway study
(00:15:58) - Orienting response in evolution and pregnancy
(00:20:57) - Phenomenology of orienting response vs meditation
(00:27:52) - Temporal bisection task & methodology
(00:35:55) - Heart anatomy, systole and diastole explained
(00:40:34) - Subjective time contracts and expands within each heartbeat
(00:53:28) - How sub-second heart dynamics interact with average heart rate
(01:02:43) - Oscillations & striatal beat frequency model
(01:08:24) - Individual differences in interoception and heart-rate variability
(01:12:16) - Heart-brain communication & the insula as an integrator
(01:26:32) - Question by Josh Goheen on how breathing modulates the heart
(01:32:19) - Psychoactive substances and slowing of breath
(01:37:11) - Neural time perception theories (Roseboom, Tsao, Buonomano)
(01:46:41) - Time tracking in retrospective and prospective memory
(01:50:53) - Science communication with the public & future directions
(01:59:53) - Outro
Saeedeh Sadeghi
- Twitter: @SdSadeghi1
- Website
Irena Arslanova
- Twitter: @irena_arslanova
- Website
Josh Goheen
My B.Sc. dissertation: Graph-driven comparative phenomenology of altered time perception in over 20,000 trip reports URL
Other books/papers mentioned:
- Marc Wittmann (2017): Felt Time: The Science of How We Experience Time book
- Claudia Hammond (2013): Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception book
- Craig, 2009: Emotional moments across time: a possible neural basis for time perception in the anterior insulas paper
- Sarigiannidis et al., 2020: Anxiety makes time pass quicker while fear has no effect paper
- Corcoran et al., 2023: Visceral afferent training in action paper
- Review paper on striatal beat frequency model (2016)
- Friston, 2018: Am I Self-Conscious? (Or Does Self-Organization Entail Self-Consciousness?) paper
- Roseboom et al., 2019: Activity in perceptual classification networks as a basis for human subjective time perception paper
- Tsao et al., 2022: The neural bases for timing of durations paper
- Buonomano & Maass, 2009: State-dependent computations: paper
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I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email me at akseli.ilmanen@gmail.com
Maybe some helpful figures
Music license:
Song: Space News URL
Item License Code: Z62T4V3QWL
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