Oxytocin and Time Perception

Abstract

The physiological mechanisms that modulate the intersubjective experience of time are still being understood. This paper provides an overview of recent investigations that elucidate oxytocin’s role in time perception, noting the intersubjective variables that, along with oxytocin, modulate a time dilation effect, including context, emotional salience, and character traits (Colonnello, Domes, & Heinrichs, 2016; Liu, Yuan, Chen, Jiang, & Zhou, 2018). Finally, a brief discussion is presented noting considerations for future investigators interested in integrating what we understand of oxytocin’s role in time perception into a psychobiological theoretical understanding of hypnosis. 

Keywords: oxytocin, time perception, hypnosis

  The mechanisms underlying the intersubjective experience of time are still being understood. At present, we understand time perception to be a composite experience relative to the individual, the context, and the stimuli (Colonnello, Domes, & Heinrichs, 2016; Liu, Yuan, Chen, Jiang, & Zhou, 2018). Investigations into the neuroendocrine mechanisms of time perception have primarily implicated dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine (Liu, Yuan, Chen, Jiang, & Zhou, 2018). Only two recent investigations have discussed the role of oxytocin, a neuropeptide hormone responsible for prosocial behaviors, in the subjective experience of time. 

Colonnello, Domes, and Heinrichs (2016) were the first to explicitly study oxytocin’s effects on time perception. They found that oxytocin increases the hedonic value of emotionally relevant, social stimuli (Tillman, et al., 2019) promoting a time dilation effect. However, the time dilation effects were only present when participants were exposed to positive, personally salient stimuli. Exposure to neutral or negative stimuli had no effects on time dilation, but some stimuli did evoke a time compression effect. More specifically, when the heterosexual male participants were exposed to images of smiling women, they experienced a time dilation effect. When the men were exposed to images of smiling men, they experienced a time compression effect. Previous studies examining emotional perceptions on time effects have noted that time dilation occurs when participants were exposed to angered faces as opposed to neutral faces (Droit-Volet, Brunot, Niedenthal, 2004; Tipples, 2008). These discrepancies in findings may be due to differences in methodology and recruitment.  

More recently, Liu, et al., (2018) found that oxytocin mediates time perception effects of social interactions. They demonstrated this by dosing individuals with less social proficiency, meeting the clinical criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with an oxytocin agonist. They found that when ASD individuals are dosed with an oxytocin agonist their subjective experience of time duration during social interactions increases. In neurotypical individuals dosed with oxytocin antagonists, they found that their subjective experience of time duration during social interactions decreased. Thus, higher levels of oxytocin seem to lead to a time dilation effect whereas lower levels lead to a temporal compression effect. The authors suggest that the time dilation effect found in neurotypical individuals may be due to oxytocin’s role in promoting neural efficiency in parts of the brain responsible for social processing (Tillman, et al., 2019). 

Interestingly, there is some evidence to suggest that oxytocin levels increase when an individual is experiencing hypnosis (Varga, & Kekecs, 2014). The clinician, facilitating the hypnotic experience, maybe processing social cues from the client more efficiently due to the increase in oxytocin (Liu, et al., 2018; Tillman, et al., 2019). The client then experiences the clinician’s processing efficiency as relational attunement, creating a secure attachment bond (Varga, & Kekecs, 2014; Zelinka, Cojan, & Desseilles, 2014). Future investigators may explore the role of oxytocin’s time dilation effects within the context of hypnosis (Varga, & Kekecs, 2014). Specifically, how oxytocin's modulation of time perception may facilitate what we know as hypnotic absorption. Thus, further supporting a psychobiological theoretical understanding of hypnosis. In summation, oxytocin may promote a time dilation effect relative to the subjective emotional salience of the stimuli. While oxytocin also seems to promote more efficient neural processing during social interactions that influence the subjective experience of time duration.

References

Colonnello, V., Domes, G., & Heinrichs, M. (2016). As time goes by: Oxytocin influences the subjective perception of time in a social context. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 68, 69–73. https://doi-org.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.02.015

Droit-Volet, S., Brunot, S., Niedenthal, P. (2004). Brief report: perception of the duration of emotional events. Trends in Cognitive Science, 11, 504-513. 

Liu, R., Yuan, X., Chen, K., Jiang, Y., & Zhou, W. (2018). Perception of social interaction compresses subjective duration in an oxytocin-dependent manner. Elife, 7 doi:10.7554/eLife.32100

Tillman, R., Gordon, I., Naples, A., Rolison, M., Leckman, J. F., Feldman, R., . . . McPartland, J. C. (2019). Oxytocin enhances the neural efficiency of social perception. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13, 71. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00071

Tripples, J. (2008). Negative emotionality influences the effects of time perception. Emotions, 8, 127-131. 

Varga, K., & Kekecs, Z. (2014). Oxytocin and cortisol in the hypnotic Interaction1. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 62(1), 111-128. doi:10.1080/00207144.2013.841494

Zelinka, V., Cojan, Y., & Desseilles, M. (2014). Hypnosis, attachment, and oxytocin:An integrative perspective 1. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 62(1), 29-49. doi:10.1080/00207144.2013.841473

This paper was written by Madeline Stein © for a class at Saybrook University during Summer Semester 2020