Abstract

Psychological time is complex. Time seems to exist as a reality independent of us, as a physical feature of an objective world that we are able to measure with a specific mechanism, which researchers call “internal clock”. However, numerous studies have shown how easily our time estimates can be distorted by our emotions. Under the influence of emotion, time often seems to speed up or slow down. Time is thus also a pure product of our emotions and of the upheavals they produce in our bodies and minds. This is the paradox identified by Droit-Volet and Gil: why are our time estimates so variable if we possess a sophisticated mechanism for measuring time? The aim of this chapter is to present the recent studies on emotion and time perception and passage of time awareness, and investigate how they question the models of internal clock.