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We seem to have rich experience across our visual field. Yet we are surprisingly poor at tasks involving the periphery and low spatial attention. Recently, Lau and collaborators have argued that a phenomenon known as "subjective inflation" allows us to reconcile these phenomena. I show inflation is consistent with multiple interpretations, with starkly different consequences for richness and for theories of consciousness more broadly. What's more, we have only weak reasons favouring any of these interpretations over the others. I provisionally argue for an interpretation on which subjective experience is genuinely rich, but (in peripheral/unattended areas) unreliable as a guide to the external world. The main challenge for this view is that it appears to imply that experience in the periphery is not just unreliable but unstable. However, I argue that this consequence, while initially appearing unintuitive, is in fact plausible.

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This article presents a novel theoretical perspective on the role of cognitive biases within the autism and schizophrenia spectrum by integrating the evolutionary and computational approaches. Against the background of neurodiversity, cognitive biases are presented as primary adaptive strategies, while the compensation of their shortcomings is a potential cognitive advantage. The article delineates how certain subtypes of autism represent a unique cognitive strategy to manage cognitive biases at the expense of rapid and frugal heuristics. In contrast, certain subtypes of schizophrenia emerge as distinctive cognitive strategies devised to navigate social interactions, albeit with a propensity for overdetecting intentional behaviors. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes that while extreme manifestations might appear non-functional, they are merely endpoints of a broader, primarily functional spectrum of cognitive strategies. The central argument hinges on the premise that cognitive biases in both autism and schizophrenia spectrums serve as compensatory mechanisms tailored for specific ecological niches.

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Background: While it is well known that illnesses such as cancer modify the experience of time, the impact of the rhythm and length of treatment on patients' time perspectives remains unknown. Methods: A short version of Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory and Transcendental Future Perspective Questionnaire as well as a demographic questionnaire on a convenience sample of 259 patients (66.8% female, mean age 52.36) with various cancers and undergoing chemotherapy with different frequencies (1, 2, 3 weeks) and mean time in treatment 23.4 months. Results: The temporal perspectives mean scores of cancer patients are: positive past 3.69, negative past 3.13, present hedonism 3.08, future 3.77, transcendental future 3.40. Patients tend only slightly to lose faith alongside the course of oncological treatment regardless of their age (ρ =  - 0.210, p < 0.01). The frequency of chemotherapy mildly differentiates temporal perspectives of patients regarding present hedonism and transcendental future: a weekly treatment is more disturbing than the triweekly one and no treatment in terms of hedonism, while patients not in chemo score significantly higher in transcendental future than patients in biweekly and triweekly chemo. Conclusions: The variations of treatment rhythm are less significant than predicted, although still relevant. Since most sociodemographic variables are of no relevance, cancer experience likely unifies temporal perspectives among people of different backgrounds.

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This paper proposes a phenomenological hypothesis that psychosis entails a disturbance of the two-fold process of the indication function of kinesthesia and the presentification function of touch that affects the constitution of bodily subjectivity. Recent functional connectivity studies showed that the increased synchrony between the right anterior insula and the default mode network are associated with psychosis. This association is proposed to be correlated with the disrupted dynamics between the pre-reflective and reflective temporal experience in psychotic patients. The paper first examines the dynamic nature of kinesthesia and the influence touch and vision exert on it, and then the reciprocal influence with temporal experience focusing on the body's cyclic sense of temporality and its impact on physiology and phenomenology. Affectivity and self-affection are considered in their basic bodily expressions mainly through the concepts of responsivity and receptivity. The overall constitutive processes referred to throughout the article are proposed as a roadmap to develop body-based therapeutic work.

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The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) is a multidimensional self-report measure that has been used to improve understanding of anticipation ("wanting") and consummation ("liking") of reward. The TEPS has been used to assess anhedonia in clinical depression, but its factor structure has not yet been confirmed in this population. This seems important given mixed findings on the model fit and factor structure of the TEPS in other clinical and community samples. To remedy this, the current study used confirmatory factor analysis to test models of the TEPS items across three studies: (a) in adults with major depression (n = 334), (b) in youth with major depression (n = 305), and (c) in a community sample (n = 320). In summary, the model fit of the two-factor TEPS scales was adequate in depressed and community Australian samples. Nevertheless, some items may require removal or revision based on cultural preferences for pleasurable experiences.

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BACKGROUND: Higher levels of stress and negative emotions such as anxiety and depression have been reported since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remains less clear how positive emotions, such as hedonic capacity, may be affected. Further, during lockdowns, the ability to learn new pleasurable activities (hedonic learning) may be particularly relevant. Here, we investigated if state hedonia and/or hedonic learning mediated the relationship between COVID-19 stress and mental health. Moreover, we explored whether positive appraisal style (PAS), a major resilience factor, influenced these relationships. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design, 5000 German-speaking participants filled out online questionnaires targeting stressors, mental health, state hedonia, hedonic learning, and PAS between April 9 and May 15, 2020. After confirming the factor structure of our constructs, we applied latent structural equation modeling to test mediation as well as moderated mediation models. RESULTS: Stress showed a positive association with mental health symptoms, which was buffered by both state hedonia and hedonic learning. While higher stress was related to lower state hedonia, participants reported more hedonic learning with greater stressor load. The latter effect was greater for individuals with high PAS. LIMITATIONS: The present results should be replicated in longitudinal designs with representative samples to confirm the directionality and generalizability of effects. CONCLUSIONS: Both state hedonia and hedonic learning buffered the effect of stress on mental health in an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning new rewarding activities in combination with a PAS may be especially relevant for maintaining mental health during lockdowns.

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Anhedonia is a core symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD). Two subtypes of anhedonia: anticipatory anhedonia and consummatory anhedonia has been recognized in MDD patients. However, our knowledge regarding the distinction of anticipatory anhedonia and consummatory anhedonia in MDD remains limited. This study aimed to characterize the anticipatory anhedonia and consummatory anhedonia in first-episode, drug-naïve MDD patients. Resting-state functional MRI and T1-structural MRI were acquired for 38 MDD patients and 65 matched healthy controls (HCs). The ALFF and cortical surface indexes were compared between MDD and HCs. Then the correlations between the ALFF and cortical surface indexes alternations and the scores of anticipatory and consummatory pleasure measured by Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale were evaluated. The elevated ALFF of left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the reduced cortical thickness (CT) of left rostral ACC and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) were respectively correlated with anticipatory anhedonia and consummatory anhedonia in MDD patients. These findings suggested the dissociated pathophysiological basis and imaging characteristics of anticipatory anhedonia and consummatory anhedonia. The ALFF and CT values of ACC and lOFC might serve as the imaging biomarker of the subtypes of anhedonia in early onset of MDD.

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ObjectiveTo explore the component factors of anhedonia in first-episode schizophrenia patients and the relationship with clinical symptoms， cognitive and social functioning. MethodsA total of 31 patients with first-episode schizophrenia who met the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Diseases， tenth edition （ICD-10） and another 33 healthy controls were enrolled. Then， the anhedonia level， mental symptoms， cognitive and social functioning were assessed using Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale （TEPS）， Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale （PANSS）， Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status （RBANS） and Personal and Social Performance Scale （PSP）. Thereafter， Pearson correlation was used to discuss the correlation of anhedonia level with clinical symptoms， cognitive and social functioning. ResultsThe consummatory anhedonia score in TEPS of first-episode schizophrenia patients was lower than that of healthy controls， with statistical difference ［（27.71±5.48） vs. （31.58±5.92）， t=2.705， P=0.009］. Correlation analysis showed that consummatory anhedonia had no correlation with PANSS， RBANS and PSP scores in first-episode schizophrenia patients（P>0.05）. ConclusionFirst-episode schizophrenia patients have consummatory anhedonia， and the consummatory anhedonia may be independent of clinical symptoms， cognitive and social functioning.

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A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM) suggests that space, time, and quantities are processed through a generalized magnitude system. ATOM posits that task-irrelevant magnitudes interfere with the processing of task-relevant magnitudes as all the magnitudes are processed by a common system. Many behavioral and neuroimaging studies have found support in favor of a common magnitude processing system. However, it is largely unknown whether such cross-domain monotonic mapping arises from a change in the accuracy of the magnitude judgments or results from changes in precision of the processing of magnitude. Therefore, in the present study, we examined whether large numerical magnitude affects temporal accuracy or temporal precision, or both. In other words, whether numerical magnitudes change our temporal experience or simply bias duration judgments. The temporal discrimination (between comparison and standard duration) paradigm was used to present numerical magnitudes ("1," "5," and "9") across varied durations. We estimated temporal accuracy (PSE) and precision (Weber ratio) for each numerical magnitude. The results revealed that temporal accuracy (PSE) for large (9) numerical magnitude was significantly lower than that of small (1) and identical (5) magnitudes. This implies that the temporal duration was overestimated for large (9) numerical magnitude compared to small (1) and identical (5) numerical magnitude, in line with ATOM's prediction. However, no influence of numerical magnitude was observed on temporal precision (Weber ratio). The findings of the present study suggest that task-irrelevant numerical magnitude selectively affects the accuracy of processing of duration but not duration discrimination itself. Further, we argue that numerical magnitude may not directly affect temporal processing but could influence via attentional mechanisms.

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This paper situates an original model of reentrant oscillatory multiplexing within the philosophy of time consciousness to argue for an extensionalist theory of the specious present. I develop a detailed differential latency model of apparent motion to show how the ordinality of experiential content is isomorphic to the ordinality of relevant brain processes. I argue that the theory presented has resources to account for other key features of the specious present, including the representational discreteness between successive conscious moments as well as the phenomenological continuity between them. This work not only shows the plausibility of an extensionalist philosophical theory, it also illustrates the utility of differential latency views in squaring temporal illusions with empirically supported neurodynamics.

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The aim of this study was to qualitatively assess the disturbances of lived time in individuals with multiple drug dependencies. The research was conducted at Monar-Markot Center for Humanitarian Aid in Roznowice (Poland) in 2014 through direct, non-disguised observational study in a therapeutic community setting. Overall, 10 clients with multiple drug dependencies forming a newcomers group participated in. They previously abstained from usage for negligible periods of time. The measurements included participant observation of collective time regimes at the center; group discussions; written accounts by clients; Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory; semi-structured interviews. It was found that the clients experienced difficulties in following a strict therapeutic temporal regime, and they also showed a concomitant need to accelerate time as it passed. They also suffered an unpleasant domination by traumatic past within lived time. Their time horizons appeared significantly shortened and their planning capacity impaired, while a distant (dissociated) future was fantasized about in a realistic manner. Altogether, their disturbances of lived time consisted of the propensity to overemphasize their past dimensions at the expense of their future, while a gap between a close and a distant future appeared.

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One of the symptoms of trauma is said to be a "sense of foreshortened future." Without further qualification, it is not clear how to interpret this. In this paper, we offer a phenomenological account of what the experience consists of. To do so, we focus on the effects of torture. We describe how traumatic events, especially those that are deliberately inflicted by other people, can lead to a loss of "trust" or "confidence" in the world. This undermines the intelligibility of one's projects, cares, and commitments, in a way that amounts to a change in the structure of temporal experience. The paper concludes by briefly addressing the implications of this for how we respond to trauma, as well as offering some remarks on the relationship between trauma and psychosis.

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It is often thought that there is little that seems more obvious from experience than that time objectively passes, and that time is, in this respect, quite unlike space. Yet nothing in the physical picture of the world seems to correspond to the idea of such an objective passage of time. In this paper, I discuss some attempts to explain this apparent conflict between appearance and reality. I argue that existing attempts to explain the conflict as the result of a perceptual illusion fail, and that it is, in fact, the nature of memory, rather than perception, that explains why we are inclined to think of time as passing. I also offer a diagnosis as to why philosophers have sometimes been tempted to think that an objective passage of time seems to figure directly in perceptual experience, even though it does not.

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