Time Perception in Virtual Reality: Effects of Emotional Valence and Stress Level

Time Perception in Virtual Reality: Effects of Emotional Valence and Stress Level | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Time Perception in Virtual Reality: Effects of Emotional Valence and Stress Level Kyriaki Syrigou, Marina Stoforou, Panagiotis Kourtesis This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641763/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background & Objective : Emotional states and stress distort time perception, yet findings are inconsistent, particularly in immersive media. Integrating the Attentional Gate Model (AGM) and Internal Clock Model (ICM), we examined how emotional valence and stress alter perceived duration in Virtual Reality (VR). This study assesses the effects of valence (calming, neutral, stressful) and stress (low/high) on prospective time estimation, mood, and arousal. Methods Fifty-four adults (18–39 year) explored three custom VR environments: (1) a tranquil Japanese garden, (2) an affectively neutral room, and (3) a threatening underground sewer. Active navigation promoted presence; a distraction task separated conditions. Valence and arousal were assessed with the Visual Analog Mood Scales, stress with the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), and perceived duration with a verbal estimation task. Mixed-model ANOVAs evaluated main and interaction effects. Results Valence reliably shaped perceived duration: calming VR led to overestimation, stressful VR to underestimation, and neutral VR to intermediate timing. Baseline stress level, as measured by PSS-10, neither altered timing nor interacted with valence. Nevertheless, the VR environments affected VAMS’ mood metrics: calming environments elevated mood and reduced perceived stress, whereas stressful environments lowered mood and heightened stress. Conclusions Findings support the AGM—attentionally demanding negative environments shorten perceived time—and the ICM—valence-linked arousal speeds or slows the pacemaker. Contrary to classical predictions, in VR, baseline stress did not distort duration, suggesting valence-driven attentional allocation outweighs pre-exposure stress levels. VR offers a controllable platform for dissecting time-perception mechanisms and advancing interventions that target emotion-related temporal distortions. time perception emotion virtual reality Attentional Gate Model Internal Clock Model Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6641763","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":456948547,"identity":"6c4886a1-46e1-40d7-855e-8bb84e6cb2e9","order_by":0,"name":"Kyriaki Syrigou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The American College of Greece","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kyriaki","middleName":"","lastName":"Syrigou","suffix":""},{"id":456948548,"identity":"d0e785bc-cc24-4561-9702-ec71e38b6eaa","order_by":1,"name":"Marina Stoforou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The American College of Greece","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marina","middleName":"","lastName":"Stoforou","suffix":""},{"id":456948549,"identity":"3371297e-0f67-41e5-9682-23414ad2fcb1","order_by":2,"name":"Panagiotis Kourtesis","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAz0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACHijNxsB8AMI6QJSWBJAWtgQStQBZBsRpMec5fEy68oeNPR//mY8ffvxikOO7kYBfi2VvW5rkmYS0xDaJ3M2SvX0MxpKEtBic5zGTbEg4nMAmwbtBmrGHIXEDkVr+27Pxn3n8G6ilnrCWsz0gLQcY2xhy2KQZfjAkGBD0S8+xZMuGtGSgX9LMLHsbJAxnnnmAX4s5T/LBmw02dvby/Ycf3/jxx0ae7zghh6HwGNsk8CvH1MLwh7COUTAKRsEoGHkAADctQ2A8ewSGAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"The American College of Greece","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Panagiotis","middleName":"","lastName":"Kourtesis","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-11 23:53:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641763/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641763/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":85588783,"identity":"3b2726e8-8a0d-4b35-afd5-0951d9e0dbde","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-28 09:16:45","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1088918,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ToSubmitDraftTimePerceptionVR.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6641763/v1_covered_fdca9d49-a84d-4cee-baa4-0b9363cdbef0.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Time Perception in Virtual Reality: Effects of Emotional Valence and Stress Level","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"time perception, emotion, virtual reality, Attentional Gate Model, Internal Clock Model","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641763/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641763/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground \u0026amp; Objective\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e: Emotional states and stress distort time perception, yet findings are inconsistent, particularly in immersive media. Integrating the Attentional Gate Model (AGM) and Internal Clock Model (ICM), we examined how emotional valence and stress alter perceived duration in Virtual Reality (VR). This study assesses the effects of valence (calming, neutral, stressful) and stress (low/high) on prospective time estimation, mood, and arousal.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFifty-four adults (18\u0026ndash;39\u0026nbsp;year) explored three custom VR environments: (1) a tranquil Japanese garden, (2) an affectively neutral room, and (3) a threatening underground sewer. Active navigation promoted presence; a distraction task separated conditions. Valence and arousal were assessed with the Visual Analog Mood Scales, stress with the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), and perceived duration with a verbal estimation task. Mixed-model ANOVAs evaluated main and interaction effects.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eValence reliably shaped perceived duration: calming VR led to overestimation, stressful VR to underestimation, and neutral VR to intermediate timing. Baseline stress level, as measured by PSS-10, neither altered timing nor interacted with valence. Nevertheless, the VR environments affected VAMS\u0026rsquo; mood metrics: calming environments elevated mood and reduced perceived stress, whereas stressful environments lowered mood and heightened stress.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFindings support the AGM\u0026mdash;attentionally demanding negative environments shorten perceived time\u0026mdash;and the ICM\u0026mdash;valence-linked arousal speeds or slows the pacemaker. Contrary to classical predictions, in VR, baseline stress did not distort duration, suggesting valence-driven attentional allocation outweighs pre-exposure stress levels. VR offers a controllable platform for dissecting time-perception mechanisms and advancing interventions that target emotion-related temporal distortions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Time Perception in Virtual Reality: Effects of Emotional Valence and Stress Level","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-16 13:46:27","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641763/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"fe1f1e98-b612-4a24-9705-329f48400008","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 16th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-06-28T09:08:39+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-16 13:46:27","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6641763","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6641763","identity":"rs-6641763","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}