Altered Perceptions: How Various Substances Influence Our Perception of Time

Our perception of time, a core aspect of cognitive psychology, is profoundly altered by common substances, impacting daily communication. For instance, 80% of the US population regularly consumes caffeine, a psychoactive drug. Neuroscience shows dopamine in the midbrain's basal ganglia crucially regulates our internal clock. Substances that boost dopamine's action slow our time perception, while those that inhibit it speed it up. Caffeine, surprisingly, can both slow and speed up time's duration depending on the dose, affecting how we experience the world.

Study at a glance

Abstract

ALTERED PERCEPTIONS: HOW VARIOUS SUBSTANCES INFLUENCE OUR PERCEPTION OF TIME BY AAYA ABDELSHAFY D o you ever feel as though you are stuck in time, or as if there are just never enough hours in a day? Our sense of time is unlike any other sense we experi- ence. It is physically intangible and yet is sustained throughout our lives from the moment we are born, unless a brain disor- der presents itself. As opposed to our other senses, we do not have an organ that is specifically dedicated to time perception. 6 Instead, this elusive awareness is ruled by a complex interplay of variable represen- tations. 6 For example, the brain’s cerebel- lum and basal ganglia (BG) are largely known to be involved in this interplay. The cerebellum is responsible for precise representations of time and temporal reproductions (in milliseconds). It is also responsible for our internal clock, which regards temporal discrimination tasks (separate from our sleep cycle). 10, 20 On the other hand, the BG is linked with our internal pacemaker, which keeps track of time relative to regular rhythmic intervals (regards millisecond-second durations). 6, 17 The structure contains the greatest amount of dopamine (DA) neurons in the brain. 16 DA is a neurotransmitter that plays an ac- tive role in our reward system. 9 However, it also strongly influences time perception by affecting the internal pacemaker. DA agonists (stimulate its action) slow our perception of time down, while antag- onists (inhibit its action) speed it up. 6,13 Some of the most widely used illicit and non-illicit substances such as caffeine, al- cohol, marijuana, and “magic mushrooms” influence these complex representations and produce significant alterations in our perception of time. With these alterations, our awareness of the world is disturbed— thusly tying into the great mystery that is Consciousness. CAFFEINE Let us begin with the drug that most of us have tried at least once to enhance our at- tention and help us tackle our busy sched- ules: caffeine. Although it is rarely treated as such, caffeine is indeed a psychoactive drug and is regularly consumed by about 80% of the US population, primarily in the form of coffee. 12 A previous study con- ducted on rats showed that low doses of caffeine may slow down our perception of time, while high doses may have an oppo- site effect. 4 This may be due to how caffeine interacts with adenosine receptors in the central nervous system, which includes our brain and spine. It primarily acts as an adenosine antagonist, which indirectly enhances DA production. 19, 21 Since caffeine does not directly act on our DA receptors, it makes sense that its effects on our time perception are inconstant. McClellan Stine et al. further examined such effects by in- quiring about several participants’ caffeine consumption and testing their ability to correctly assess specific durations of time. 12 They witnessed a similar u-shaped pattern wherein only moderate doses of caffeine FALL 2016 | Berkeley Scientific Journal