Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this French longitudinal study, we assessed judgment of the passage of time in current life and the predictors of this judgment 2 years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., at a time when there was no lockdown and no protective measures. We then compared these measures with the same participants' passage-of-time judgments assessed during each of the past three French lockdowns. We also assessed their memory representations of the passage of time in the past, i.e., for the various lockdowns. The results showed the persistence of the feeling of time slowing down outside of lockdown. However, this was no longer linked to external factors (lack of activity, disruption of everyday routines) as found in the previous studies conducted during the lockdowns, but to an individual internal factor, namely a high level of depression in the general population. Moreover, the results revealed that the experience of the passage of time for the past lockdowns was compressed in memory, being judged to be faster than it actually was. This time compression tended to be greater in depressed people. It was also associated with a positive bias for all the other examined factors (e.g., sleep quality, life routine, boredom, happiness). We assumed that this time compression would be related to processes involved in the recall of unfolding events, with certain moments being omitted or forgotten during recall, as well as to the process of reconstruction in autobiographical memory. Our study therefore shows the long-lasting effect of lockdowns on mental health of the general population, which was expressed by the persistent feeling of a slowing down of time. It is therefore necessary to take care of this psychologically fragile population and to avoid further lockdowns in response to a new health crisis, that they cannot cope with.

Development and relationship between the judgment of the speed of passage of time and the judgment of duration in children.

This study examined the relationships between the awareness of the speed of the passage of time, the judgment of durations and experiential factors in children aged 4-9 years. They were asked to judge the duration and the speed of the passage of time for different intervals (second and minutes), and to rate their feelings (arousal, happiness, sadness, and task difficulty) during each interval. The results indicated that 8-9-year-olds' judgment of the passage of time is extremely flexible and context-dependent, representing the duration and/or the individual changes in subjective experience (emotion). In contrast, young children's judgment of the passage of time was not related to duration. However, their judgments were not given randomly. They judged that time passed more quickly when they felt happier and more alert. The passage-of-time judgment was therefore initially grounded in emotional and sensory-motor experience, i.e., in their perception of changes (acceleration and deceleration) in self-movement (successions of states and their extension). Therefore, duration judgment and passage-of-time judgment initially develop separately and are later combined when children understand the logical link between speed and duration.

The feeling of the passage of time against the time of the external clock.

When people say that time is passing faster or slower, they are referring to the clock time. What exactly is the role of this reference to clock time in the awareness of the passage of time? Three experiments were conducted to examine this question. In Experiment 1, participants performed an easy and a difficult task in a condition with or without an external clock. In Experiment 2, the external clock was introduced after several trials of the easy task performed by the same participants. In Experiment 3, the speed of the clock hands was manipulated. Eye movements towards the clock were recorded by an eye tracker. The results showed that time was judged to pass faster with the external clock, thus reducing the distortion of the sense of time. Indeed, participants noticed that time passed faster than they initially thought. However, our results also showed that this was an occasional and short-lived adjustment of subjective time to objective time, with a greater acceleration in the presence of the fast clock. Indeed, the clock quickly lost its effect after a few trials, the feeling of the passage remaining based on the emotion felt, i.e., the boredom felt in the easy task. Our experiments thus showed that the feeling of the passage of time is primarily grounded in the emotional affect experienced (Embodiment), and that knowledge of clock time had only a small and transient corrective effect.

Judgment of duration and passage of time in prospective and retrospective conditions and its predictors for short and long durations.

The study investigated participants' verbal duration judgment and judgment of passage of time (PoT) when presented with an image for a few seconds (20 to 45 s) or minutes (80 to 180 s) with prospective and retrospective temporal judgment instruction, with their level of attention devoted to time tested. Their self-reported levels of emotion and attention were also assessed, as well as their individual impulsivity traits. Structural equation analyses showed that the best predictor of PoT judgment was emotion (boredom) regardless of duration range. For duration judgment, the best predictor for short durations was attention-related factors. However, for long durations, these factors ceased to be significant and were replaced by emotion, in the same way as for the PoT judgment. Indeed, these analyses suggested that duration judgment and PoT judgment were related for long durations of more than one minute, whereas they were not related for short durations of a few seconds.

What factors underlie our experience of the passage of time? Theoretical consequences.

The aim of this study was to examine the factors that explain variations in the conscious experience of time. The level of difficulty of the task, emotional valence and duration of stimuli were tested in three different experiments with two ranges of durations, one of seconds and the other one of minutes. The results showed that the passage of time was judged faster with durations in the seconds than in the minutes range. However, for all duration values, each change in the features of the task produced changes in the judgment of the passage of time. The subjective feeling of an acceleration of the passage of time, therefore, increased linearly with the increase in the level of difficulty of the task and with the positive valence of the emotional stimuli. It also varied linearly with the length of real time, increasing in the same proportion as the decrease in stimulus duration, regardless of the associated range (seconds or minutes). Our theory is that the judgment of the passage of time might be a generic way of describing the most salient internal or external contextual changes experienced.

The Persistence of Slowed Time Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Two Longitudinal Studies in France.

The home confinement imposed on people to fight the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the flow of time by disrupting daily life, making them feel that time was passing slowly. The aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the evolution over time of this subjective experience of time and its significant predictors (boredom, decreased happiness, life rhythm, and sleep quality). Twso samples of French participants were followed up: the first for several weeks during the first lockdown (April 2020) and then 1year later (April 2021; Study 1), and the second during the first lockdown (April 2020) and then 6months (November 2020) and 1year later (April 2021; Study 2). Our study shows that the French participants have the feeling that time has passed slowly since the beginning of the first lockdown and that it has not resumed its normal course. This is explained by a persistent feeling of boredom characteristic of a depressive state that has taken hold in the population. The findings therefore suggest that the repeated contexts of confinement did not contribute to re-establishing a normal perception of time, to which a subjective acceleration of time would have testified.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Vulnerable People Suffering from Depression: Two Studies on Adults in France.

This study investigated the difficulties experienced by people suffering from depression in coping with the stressful context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown. Two large samples of the French population were classified on the basis of their depressive symptoms and completed an online questionnaire on their emotions and their behaviors during the lockdown. Results showed that, compared to participants with no or mild mental health-related symptoms, participants with moderate to severe depressive symptoms suffered from greater psychological effects of the pandemic and the lockdown (fear, anxiety, sadness, sleep quality, loss of daily routine). However, health risk behaviors (smoking, drinking, non-compliance with lockdown and barrier gestures) and perceived vulnerability did not differ between the participant groups, although more severely depressed participants tended to be less respectful of health guidelines. In addition, the most heightened effects on the depressed participants were boredom and the feeling of social isolation, which was not compensated by the search for social affiliation. Supporting people with depression should be a public health priority because they suffer psychologically more than others from the pandemic and the lockdown.

Time and Covid-19 stress in the lockdown situation: Time free, «Dying¼ of boredom and sadness.

A lockdown of people has been used as an efficient public health measure to fight against the exponential spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and allows the health system to manage the number of patients. The aim of this study (clinicaltrials.gov NCT00430818) was to evaluate the impact of both perceived stress aroused by Covid-19 and of emotions triggered by the lockdown situation on the individual experience of time. A large sample of the French population responded to a survey on their experience of the passage of time during the lockdown compared to before the lockdown. The perceived stress resulting from Covid-19 and stress at work and home were also assessed, as were the emotions felt. The results showed that people have experienced a slowing down of time during the lockdown. This time experience was not explained by the levels of perceived stress or anxiety, although these were considerable, but rather by the increase in boredom and sadness felt in the lockdown situation. The increased anger and fear of death only explained a small part of variance in the time judgment. The conscious experience of time therefore reflected the psychological difficulties experienced during lockdown and was not related to their perceived level of stress or anxiety.

Embodied time and the out-of-body experience of the self.

Using an out-of-body paradigm, the present study provided further empirical evidence for the theory of embodied time by suggesting that the body-self plays a key role in time judgments. Looking through virtual reality glasses, the participants saw the arm of a mannequin instead of their own arm. They had to judge the duration of the interval between two (perceived) touches applied to the mannequin's body after a series of strokes had been viewed being made to the mannequin and tactile strokes had been administered to the participants themselves. These strokes were administered either synchronously or asynchronously. During the interval, a pleasant (touch with a soft paintbrush) or an unpleasant stimulation (touch with a pointed knife) was applied to the mannequin. The results showed that the participants felt the perceived tactile stimulations in their own bodies more strongly after the synchronous than the asynchronous stroking condition, a finding which is consistent with the out-of-body illusion. In addition, the interval duration was judged longer in the synchronous than in the asynchronous condition. This time distortion increased the greater the individual out-of-body experience was. Our results therefore highlight the importance of the awareness of the body-self in the processing of time, i.e., the significance of embodied time.

Time and Emotion During Lockdown and the Covid-19 Epidemic: Determinants of Our Experience of Time?

To fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease, more than 3 billion people in the world have been confined indoors. Although lockdown is an efficient solution, it has had various psychological consequences that have not yet been fully measured. During the lockdown period in France (April 2020), we conducted two surveys on two large panels of participants to examine how the lockdown disrupted their relationship with time and what this change in their experiences of time means. Numerous questions were asked about the experience of time but also the nature of life during the lockdown: the emotions felt, boredom, the activities performed, sleep quality, and the daily rhythm. The participants also completed a series of self-reported scales used to assess depression, anxiety, and impulsivity. The results showed that time seemed to pass more slowly during the lockdown compared to before. This feeling of a slowing down of time has little to do with living conditions during the lockdown and individual psychological characteristics. The main predictor of this time experience was boredom and partly mediated by the lack of activity. The feeling of being less happy and the presence of sleep disturbance also explained this specific experience of time albeit to a lesser extent.

In Vitro Osteogenesis Stimulation via Nano-Hydroxyapatite/Carbon Nanotube Thin Films on Biomedical Stainless Steel.

We evaluated the electrophoretic deposition of nanohydroxyapatite/superhydrop hilic multiwalled carbon nanotube composites (nHAp/MWCNT) onto stainless steel biomedical alloys for applications in bone tissue engineering. First, nHAp/MWCNT composites were dispersed into 0.042 mol·L-1 of Ca(NO3)2·4H2O + 0.025 mol·L-1 NH4H2PO4 electrolytes (pH = 4.8) at two different concentrations. Next, a voltage of -2 V was applied using 316L stainless steel as a working electrode (0.27 cm²), a high-purity platinum coil wire was used as the auxiliary electrode, and an Ag/AgCl (3 M) electrode was used as the reference electrode. The nHAp/MWCNT composites were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The deposited nHAp and nHAp/MWCNT films were characterized by profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and Raman spectroscopy. Human osteoblast cells were cultivated with the different materials and in vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated using lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay. The osteogenesis process was evaluated by mRNA levels of the three genes that are directly related to bone repair: Alkaline Phosphatase, Osteopontin and Osteocalcin. We showed that rough, crystalline apatite thin films containing phases of nHAp were successfully deposited onto 316L stainless steel alloys. Also, we noticed that nHAp/MWCNT thin films deposited onto 316L stainless steel alloys upregulated the expression of important genes related to bone mineralization and maturation. Our results strongly support the possibility of this new alternative to modify the surface of metallic biomedical alloys to promote bone tissue regeneration.

Comparação da leitura de escolares com gagueira em duas condições de escuta: habitual e atrasada / Comparison of reading of school-age children who stutter in two listening situations: usual and delayed

RESUMO Objetivo: comparar os efeitos imediatos do atraso na retroalimentação auditiva na tarefa de leitura oral em escolares com gagueira do desenvolvimento persistente. Métodos: estudo aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética da Instituição (n°0714/2013). Participaram 16 escolares, com idade de 8 a 17 anos, sendo 11 do gênero masculino e 5 do feminino, separados em dois Grupos Experimentais (GE1 e GE2) de 8 participantes cada; o GE1 composto de participantes com gagueira moderada e o GE2 com gagueira grave ou muito grave. Os procedimentos utilizados foram: avaliação audiológica, avaliação da fluência na fala espontânea e avaliação da fluência na leitura oral em duas condições de escuta: com Retroalimentação Auditiva Habitual - RAH e atrasada - RAA. O software Fono Tools junto com o Adaptador Andrea PureAudio USB-AS e microfone auricular Karsect HT-2 foram utilizados para provocar o efeito da RAA e gravar a fala. Resultados: o efeito da retroalimentação auditiva atrasada ocasionou redução das disfluências típicas da gagueira em ambos os grupos, porém a frequência de outras disfluências aumentou no grupo de gagueira moderada e diminuiu no grupo com gagueira grave/muito grave e, desta forma, o total de disfluências apresentou uma diminuição mais significativa no GE2. A diferença foi estatisticamente significante apenas na comparação intergrupos das disfluências típicas da gagueira, na situação de retroalimentação auditiva habitual. Conclusões: o atraso na retroalimentação auditiva não ocasionou efeitos significantes na leitura em ambos os grupos, entretanto há uma tendência do efeito ser considerado positivo para o grupo com gagueira grave/muito grave.

ABSTRACT Purpose: to compare the immediate effects of delayed auditory feedback in oral reading task of school-age children with persistent developmental stuttering. Methods: this study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee (n° 0714/2013). Participated 16 school-children aged 8-17 years, 11 males and 5 females, divided into two experimental groups (EG1 and EG2) with 8 participants each; EG1 composed by participants with moderate stuttering and EG2 with severe or very severe stuttering. The procedures employed were: audiologic evaluation, fluency assessment in spontaneous speech and evaluation of oral reading fluency, in two listening situations: with Nonaltered Auditory Feedback - NAF and Delayed - DAF. The Fono Tools software along with Andrea PureAudio USB -AS adapter and headset microphone Karsect HT- 2 were employed to cause the effect of the DAF and to record speech. Results: the effect of the delayed auditory feedback led to reduction of stuttering-like disfluencies in both groups, but the frequency of other disfluencies increased in the moderate stuttering group and decreased in the group with severe / very severe stuttering and thus, total disfluencies showed a more significant decrease in EG2. There were statistically significant differences for oral reading only in intergroup comparison for stuttering-like disfluencies, at nonaltered auditory feedback situation. Conclusions: the delayed auditory feedback did not cause significant effects during oral reading in both groups, however the effect may tend to be considered as positive for the group with severe / very severe stuttering.