Temporal binding and sense of agency in major depression.

Background: Alterations in the experience of controlling oneself and one's environment are of high relevance to understanding the psychopathology of depression. This study investigated the relationship between Temporal Binding for action-event sequences, sense of agency, self-efficacy and symptom severity in Major Depressive Disorder.

Method: We employed the Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS) and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) to assess explicit Sense of Agency and self-efficacy in a group of 42 persons diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) [20 identifying as female, 19 as male; mean age 37.

Impaired recognition of interactive intentions in adults with autism spectrum disorder not attributable to differences in visual attention or coordination via eye contact and joint attention.

Altered nonverbal communication patterns especially with regard to gaze interactions are commonly reported for persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study we investigate and differentiate for the first time the interplay of attention allocation, the establishment of shared focus (eye contact and joint attention) and the recognition of intentions in gaze interactions in adults with ASD compared to control persons. Participants interacted via gaze with a virtual character (VC), who they believed was controlled by another person.

Temporal binding of social events less pronounced in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Differences in predictive processing are considered amongst the prime candidates for mechanisms underlying different symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A particularly valuable paradigm to investigate these processes is temporal binding (TB) assessed through time estimation tasks. In this study, we report on two separate experiments using a TB task designed to assess the influence of top-down social information on action event related TB.

Dissociating passage and duration of time experiences through the intensity of ongoing visual change.

The experience of passage of time is assumed to be a constitutive component of our subjective phenomenal experience and our everyday life that is detached from the estimation of time durations. However, our understanding of the factors contributing to passage of time experience has been mostly restricted to associated emotional and cognitive experiences in temporally extended situations. Here, we tested the influence of low-level visual stimuli on the experience of passage and duration of time in 10-30 s intervals.

Brief Report: Preferred Processing of Social Stimuli in Autism: A Perception Task.

In this study we investigate whether persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perceive social images differently than control participants (CON) in a graded perception task in which stimuli emerged from noise before dissipating into noise again. We presented either social stimuli (humans) or non-social stimuli (objects or animals). ASD were slower to recognize images during their emergence, but as fast as CON when indicating the dissipation of the image irrespective of its content.

Temporal binding is enhanced in social contexts.

Temporal binding (TB) refers to an underestimation of time intervals between two events, most commonly for actions and their effects. This temporal contraction is measurable for both perceived changes in social stimuli such as faces, as well as for interactions with a partner. We investigated TB in two separate experiments to uncover the individual influences of (i) participants' belief in an interaction with a human partner (as compared to a computer), and (ii) a face-like stimulus versus an abstract stimulus mediating the interaction.

The Temporality of Situated Cognition.

Situated cognition embeds perceptions, thoughts, and behavior within the contextual framework of so-called "4E cognition" understanding cognition to be embodied, enactive, extended, and embedded. Whereas this definition is primarily based on the spatial properties of a situation, it neglects a fundamental constituent: the cognitive situation as . On a subpersonal level, situated cognition requires the integration of information processing within a minimal temporal extension generating the basic building blocks of perception and action ("microlayer" of time).

Disturbed Experience of Time in Depression-Evidence from Content Analysis.

Disturbances in the experience of time have been a commonly reported feature of depressive disorders since the beginning of modern psychiatry and psychological research. However, qualitative research approaches to investigate the phenomenon are rarely used. We employed content analysis to investigate disturbances of time experience in Major Depressive Disorder.