Core body temperature speeds up temporal processing and choice behavior under deadlines

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 c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 10053 - 12
Main Authors van Maanen, Leendert, van der Mijn, Robbert, van Beurden, Maurice H. P. H., Roijendijk, Linsey M. M., Kingma, Boris R. M., Miletić, Steven, van Rijn, Hedderik
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.07.2019
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects
631/378/2649/1409
631/477/2811
Adult
Behavior - physiology
Body temperature
Body Temperature - physiology
Choice Behavior
Cognitive ability
Decision making
Delay Discounting - physiology
Hot Temperature
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Hyperthermia
Information processing
Male
multidisciplinary
Reaction Time
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Temperature effects
Temperature perception
Temporal perception
Time Perception
Work Performance
Young Adult
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Summary: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.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-46073-3