On time distortion under stress

Abstract

Under conditions of extreme and life-threatening stress, people often report distortions of time. These distortional experiences are critical since, axiomatically, they occur in circumstances where small variations in behavior can mean the difference between survival and extinction. The present work examines the spectrum of evidence concerning such phenomena including observations from real-world events such as combat, ejection from high-performance aircraft, driving in dangerous environments and from less stressful, yet informative laboratory procedures. A contextual theory is promulgated which postulates that in addition to draining attentional resources, stress prevents the efficient production of such resources. The stress-depleted resources which remain are directed to task-relevant activities and consequently attention to time-based cues is minimized resulting in distortion effects for both time-in-passing and for time recollection in memory. A number of practical observations are advanced concerning the performance of professionals who are likely to meet such conditions in their occupations including those in aerospace, military, fire-fighting, law enforcement, and medical emergency service operations. In conclusion, we present a number of future research strategies that may be enacted in order to evaluate this ephemeral, real-world phenomenon.

Keywords:

• Stress
• Time distortion
• Operator performance
• Emergency response

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the individuals who have contributed to the present conceptions, especially to the late Rolf Braune who provided most useful suggestions on an earlier version of this work. His recent demise is a loss to our community and he will be missed. The research reported here was supported by a grant from the Army Research Organization (Grant# DAAD19-01-1-0621). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the US Government. The authors wish to thank Dr Sherry Tove, Dr Mike Drillings and Dr Paul Gade for providing administrative and technical direction for the Grant.

Notes

Hume's proposition was that extraordinary claims required extraordinary proof. The present claim is at the edge of experience but not so extraordinary as to require an existence proof of a level beyond that of general psychological/behavioral evaluation.