A study published in Nature Communications by UCLA psychologists found that activation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) – a dopamine-producing brain region – at the start of a new event is associated with participants perceiving that more time had passed.
How Dopamine Shapes Our Sense of Time
A new study reveals that the brain's dopamine system may play a key role in how we perceive the passage of time, particularly at the beginning of new events. Researchers from UCLA have found that a burst of activity in the brain's reward center can make moments feel longer than they actually are.
The study involved 32 volunteers viewing images while hearing tones; a change in tone signaled an event boundary. Functional MRI scans showed stronger VTA activation at these boundaries, which correlated with greater perceived time intervals between images that were actually equally spaced. Additionally, increased blinking during new events—a behavior linked to dopamine signaling—also correlated with expanded time perception.
"The dopamine system responds to novelty and change, and its activation at event beginnings likely helps segment experiences into memorable episodes." — First author Erin Morrow
Implications for Memory and Experience
The researchers propose that dopamine helps segment continuous experience into memorable episodes, potentially explaining why time can feel distorted in memory. Professor David Clewett noted that time is constructed by the brain and shaped by experience; the findings suggest that marking event boundaries with dopamine helps separate memories.
Morrow indicated that the time dilation effect, though not accurate, may help push experiences farther apart in memory. "The time dilation effect, though not accurate, may help push experiences farther apart in memory," she stated.
Study Limitations
- The study uses fMRI, which cannot directly measure dopamine release; it infers dopamine activity from VTA activation.
- The results are based on laboratory stimuli and may not fully generalize to complex real-world experiences.
- The relationship between blinking and dopamine is debated in existing literature; this study examined blinking during active perception in healthy individuals.
Funding
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation (grant BCS-2141110).