The Effect of Mood Induction (Positive, Negative and Anxiousness) on time perception

Time perception is one of the important cognitive functions of the brain, and it refers to the mental sense of time by a person. This ability not only affects all human activities but also affects our mood and emotions. The present study was applied in a semi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test for two experimental and control groups. Subjects were 40 men and women (20 males and 20 females), which were selected by available sampling from bachelor's and master's degrees and divided into two peer control and experimental groups based on gender and education. All subjects were tested by production time task of 30 and 60 seconds by chronometer before and after the intervention. The experimental group was exposed to induction of three stages of negative, positive mood, and anxiety state, and the control group were tested by the same method in neutral state. The results of variance analysis with repeated measures in the production time task showed, individuals in positive mood and anxiety estimates time faster than neutral state, and also time perceived faster in positive mood in compare to anxiety state. Furthermore, individuals in the Negative mood perceived time slower than neutral state. Based on the result of this study, it can conclude that people experience time faster in positive mood and anxiety state, while in negative mood, people experience time slower.