NOTE: This project is still in process and the poster has been removed.
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a potentially life-threatening event for mothers of young children. People often perceive time periods containing life threatening events as significantly longer than time periods without danger (Droit-Volet et al., 2010). However, this difference appears to be initially moderated by anxiety with a decreasing effect on time perception over time (Bar-Haim et al., 2010). Researchers sought to see if similar effects of time perception could be seen in mothers of young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from three time points during the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers estimated how much longer the pandemic would last. At the same time points, mothers responded to questionnaires about their stress and anxiety levels. Based on these responses, researchers found that mothers with high levels of anxiety more accurately predicted pandemic length at the beginning of the pandemic, but this effect became irrelevant in later time periods. Future research may expand upon this by investigating other factors that might correlate with time perception during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, they could investigate whether predictions correlated with infection rates.
Acknowledgements
This research was completed in collaboration with the University of Texas.
References
Bar-Haim, Y., Kerem, A., Lamy, D., & Zakay, D. (2010). When time slows down: The influence of threat on time perception in anxiety. Cognition and Emotion, 24(2), 255–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930903387603
Droit-Volet, S., Mermillod, M., Cocenas-Silva, R., & Gil, S. (2010). The effect of expectancy of a threatening event on time perception in human adults. Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 10(6), 908–914. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020258
