Insights into Social Cognition: The Influence of Facial Trustworthiness on Time Perception

Abstract Subjective time perception greatly contributes to social interactions; therefore, it is of profound influence in social cognition. Navigating social situations, understanding others' intentions, and predicting their behavior are essential in adaptive systems. Hence, perception of trustworthiness is a significant social signal that guides behavior. This thesis investigates the relationship between facial trustworthiness and temporal perception. Eighty-seven participants were asked to evaluate the duration of image presentation, ranging from 400 to 1600 ms, as “short” or “long” with the temporal bisection task. In addition, they were exposed to a set of computer-generated images varying in trustworthiness level, and asked to rate the trustworthiness of the faces in the manipulation check. This thesis aims to reveal the relationship between facial trustworthiness and temporal distortion in time perception. We hypothesized that objective face-based trustworthiness influences subjective perception of time. The results confirmed our hypothesis, and we found a significant effect of facial trustworthiness on time perception, with higher trust level predicting a higher likelihood of longer duration perception. These findings propose a complex interaction between trustworthiness perception and time perception at neural, physiological, and cognitive levels, and provide insights into social cognition. Keywords: time perception, facial trustworthiness, social cognition, time bisection, time distortion, manipulation check