Cargando…

Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

In this French longitudinal study, we assessed judgment of the passage of time in current life and the predictors of this judgment 2 years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., at a time when there was no lockdown and no protective measures. We then compared these measures with the same pa...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Droit-Volet, Sylvie, Martinelli, Natalia, Dezecache, Guillaume, Belletier, Clément, Gil, Sandrine, Chevalère, Johann, Huguet, Pascal
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10511114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37729321
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290697
_version_ 1785108077776732160
author Droit-Volet, Sylvie
Martinelli, Natalia
Dezecache, Guillaume
Belletier, Clément
Gil, Sandrine
Chevalère, Johann
Huguet, Pascal
author_facet Droit-Volet, Sylvie
Martinelli, Natalia
Dezecache, Guillaume
Belletier, Clément
Gil, Sandrine
Chevalère, Johann
Huguet, Pascal
author_sort Droit-Volet, Sylvie
collection PubMed
description In this French longitudinal study, we assessed judgment of the passage of time in current life and the predictors of this judgment 2 years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., at a time when there was no lockdown and no protective measures. We then compared these measures with the same participants’ passage-of-time judgments assessed during each of the past three French lockdowns. We also assessed their memory representations of the passage of time in the past, i.e., for the various lockdowns. The results showed the persistence of the feeling of time slowing down outside of lockdown. However, this was no longer linked to external factors (lack of activity, disruption of everyday routines) as found in the previous studies conducted during the lockdowns, but to an individual internal factor, namely a high level of depression in the general population. Moreover, the results revealed that the experience of the passage of time for the past lockdowns was compressed in memory, being judged to be faster than it actually was. This time compression tended to be greater in depressed people. It was also associated with a positive bias for all the other examined factors (e.g., sleep quality, life routine, boredom, happiness). We assumed that this time compression would be related to processes involved in the recall of unfolding events, with certain moments being omitted or forgotten during recall, as well as to the process of reconstruction in autobiographical memory. Our study therefore shows the long-lasting effect of lockdowns on mental health of the general population, which was expressed by the persistent feeling of a slowing down of time. It is therefore necessary to take care of this psychologically fragile population and to avoid further lockdowns in response to a new health crisis, that they cannot cope with.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10511114
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-105111142023-09-21 Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Droit-Volet, Sylvie Martinelli, Natalia Dezecache, Guillaume Belletier, Clément Gil, Sandrine Chevalère, Johann Huguet, Pascal PLoS One Research Article In this French longitudinal study, we assessed judgment of the passage of time in current life and the predictors of this judgment 2 years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., at a time when there was no lockdown and no protective measures. We then compared these measures with the same participants’ passage-of-time judgments assessed during each of the past three French lockdowns. We also assessed their memory representations of the passage of time in the past, i.e., for the various lockdowns. The results showed the persistence of the feeling of time slowing down outside of lockdown. However, this was no longer linked to external factors (lack of activity, disruption of everyday routines) as found in the previous studies conducted during the lockdowns, but to an individual internal factor, namely a high level of depression in the general population. Moreover, the results revealed that the experience of the passage of time for the past lockdowns was compressed in memory, being judged to be faster than it actually was. This time compression tended to be greater in depressed people. It was also associated with a positive bias for all the other examined factors (e.g., sleep quality, life routine, boredom, happiness). We assumed that this time compression would be related to processes involved in the recall of unfolding events, with certain moments being omitted or forgotten during recall, as well as to the process of reconstruction in autobiographical memory. Our study therefore shows the long-lasting effect of lockdowns on mental health of the general population, which was expressed by the persistent feeling of a slowing down of time. It is therefore necessary to take care of this psychologically fragile population and to avoid further lockdowns in response to a new health crisis, that they cannot cope with. Public Library of Science 2023-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC10511114/ /pubmed/37729321 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290697 Text en © 2023 Droit-Volet et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Droit-Volet, Sylvie
Martinelli, Natalia
Dezecache, Guillaume
Belletier, Clément
Gil, Sandrine
Chevalère, Johann
Huguet, Pascal
Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
title Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
title_fullStr Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
title_short Experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
title_sort experience and memory of time and emotions two years after the start of the covid-19 pandemic
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10511114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37729321
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290697
work_keys_str_mv AT droitvoletsylvie experienceandmemoryoftimeandemotionstwoyearsafterthestartofthecovid19pandemic
AT martinellinatalia experienceandmemoryoftimeandemotionstwoyearsafterthestartofthecovid19pandemic
AT dezecacheguillaume experienceandmemoryoftimeandemotionstwoyearsafterthestartofthecovid19pandemic
AT belletierclement experienceandmemoryoftimeandemotionstwoyearsafterthestartofthecovid19pandemic
AT gilsandrine experienceandmemoryoftimeandemotionstwoyearsafterthestartofthecovid19pandemic
AT chevalerejohann experienceandmemoryoftimeandemotionstwoyearsafterthestartofthecovid19pandemic
AT huguetpascal experienceandmemoryoftimeandemotionstwoyearsafterthestartofthecovid19pandemic