Study on the Effect and Mechanism of Survival Relevance on Time Perception

In recent years, research has attempted to examine individuals’ temporal information processing under survival-related contexts. For example, when an individual encounters a threat to survival, they may perceive the threatening stimulus in advance and experience time as slowing down, allowing sufficient time to respond defensively; conversely, when one feels abundant and content during pleasurable moments, time seems to fly by.

Overall, throughout the long course of natural evolution, survival-related stimuli have likely shaped our perception of time. Unfortunately, previous research has largely followed the line of investigation focused on emotion elicited by stimuli, exploring differences in specific stimuli along emotional dimensions and their effects on time perception. As a result, research has been fragmented, and theoretical hypotheses remain diverse.