Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 11;9(1):10053. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46073-3.
Evidence suggests that human timing ability is compromised by heat. In particular, some studies suggest that increasing body temperature speeds up an internal clock, resulting in faster time perception. However, the consequences of this speed-up for other cognitive processes remain unknown. In the current study, we rigorously tested the speed-up hypothesis by inducing passive hyperthermia through immersion of participants in warm water. In addition, we tested how a change in time perception affects performance in decision making under deadline stress. We found that participants underestimate a prelearned temporal interval when body temperature increases, and that their performance in a two-alternative forced-choice task displays signatures of increased time pressure. These results show not only that timing plays an important role in decision-making, but also that this relationship is mediated by temperature. The consequences for decision-making in job environments that are demanding due to changes in body temperature may be considerable.
有证据表明，人体的时间感知能力会受到高温的影响。具体来说，一些研究表明，体温升高会加速内部时钟，导致时间感知变快。然而，这种加速对其他认知过程的后果尚不清楚。在当前的研究中，我们通过让参与者将身体浸入热水中来严格测试升温假说。此外，我们还测试了时间感知的变化如何影响在截止日期压力下的决策表现。我们发现，当体温升高时，参与者会低估预先学习的时间间隔，并且他们在二选一强制选择任务中的表现显示出时间压力增加的迹象。这些结果不仅表明时间在决策中起着重要作用，而且还表明这种关系受到温度的影响。由于体温变化而导致的工作环境中对决策的要求可能会产生相当大的影响。
