Empathy shortens perceived time in association with visual attention but not physiological measures

Abstract Recent work suggests that empathic engagement can influence perceptual processes, yet its impact on time perception remains unclear. Whereas internal clock models predict that empathy-induced physiological arousal lengthens perceived duration, other frameworks predict the opposite. Specifically, findings that empathy reduces perceived distance, along with motivational dimensional theory, predict that empathy shortens perceived duration. To disentangle this, we employed an empathy-for-pain and duration estimation task, while measuring participants’ heart rate and skin conductance, to investigate how empathy and physiological arousal influence time perception. Further, we measured eye-movements to examine whether visual attention is associated with the possible effect of empathy on time perception. Crucially, we also assessed whether these effects are modulated by individual differences in trait empathy, alexithymia, and trait autism. Our findings show that empathy shortens estimated duration. Despite increases in physiological arousal during empathy, arousal was not associated with changes in time perception. Rather, greater visual attention to the eyes was related to stronger alteration in time perception. Furthermore, trait empathy and autism quotient modulated this effect, whereas alexithymia did not. These results provide the first empirical evidence that empathy alters time perception, elucidate the contribution of physiological and visual mechanisms to this phenomenon and extend current theories of time perception and empathy.