When creativity changes time experiences: Semantic exploration shapes speech production and temporal processing
Abstract
Creative engagement is associated with distorted experiences of time, yet the cognitive basis remains unknown. In particular, it is unclear how balancing broad associative exploration with task-relevant constraints during idea generation shapes prospective duration perception and subjective passage of time. Here, 31 participants generated spoken sentences from prompt word triplets under conventional, creative, or unconventional instructions while producing target intervals (10 or 20 s). Electrodermal activity and cardiac photoplethysmography were recorded throughout. After each trial, participants completed ratings assessing their subjective temporal accuracy and passage of time. Results showed that creative generation was characterized by broader within-response semantic range and reduced contextual uncertainty, reflecting a balance between conceptual divergence and structural coherence. Creativity was also associated with greater temporal overproduction and absolute proportional error, whereas unconventionality improved temporal precision without a directional bias. The coefficient of variation showed no significant condition effect, indicating no detectable differences in relative trial-to-trial variability. Exploratory multilevel mediation revealed an indirect association between semantic range and temporal overproduction through speech duration, implicating verbal production dynamics in the relationship between semantic exploration and timing. Subjective passage of time was faster in creative and unconventional conditions compared to conventional, dissociating subjective temporal experience from prospective interval production. Physiologically, creative generation reduced phasic electrodermal activity, whereas unconventionality increased tonic skin conductance. Across trials, higher heart rate and phasic electrodermal activity were associated with shorter produced intervals. Overall, these findings reveal that temporal experience during creative thought reflects distinct contributions from embodied speech production dynamics and internal autonomic pacing.
Related
- ADHD and Creativity: Contribution of ADHD Trait Dimensions and an Exploration of Other Contributing Factors
- A twin study of genetic and environmental aetiologies of associations between sensory processing sensitivity and psychotic-like experiences
- A qualitative exploration of community health workers' roles and motivations in delivering care during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: experiences and community perceptions in rural and urban Delhi, India.
- Altered semantic prediction error processing with increasing schizotypal and autistic traits
- Suicidal ideation, depressive experiences, and resilience among adolescents living with HIV in rural Ghana: a qualitative exploration of psychological experiences and coping
BibTeX
@misc{zioga2026when,
title = {{When creativity changes time experiences: Semantic exploration shapes speech production and temporal processing}},
author = {Ioanna Zioga and Michailia Zafeiropoulou and Argiro Vatakis},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/my745_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/my745_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - When creativity changes time experiences: Semantic exploration shapes speech production and temporal processing
AU - Ioanna Zioga
AU - Michailia Zafeiropoulou
AU - Argiro Vatakis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/my745_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/my745_v1/
AB - Creative engagement is associated with distorted experiences of time, yet the cognitive basis remains unknown. In particular, it is unclear how balancing broad associative exploration with task-relevant constraints during idea generation shapes prospective duration perception and subjective passage of time. Here, 31 participants generated spoken sentences from prompt word triplets under conventional, creative, or unconventional instructions while producing target intervals (10 or 20 s). Electrodermal activity and cardiac photoplethysmography were recorded throughout. After each trial, participants completed ratings assessing their subjective temporal accuracy and passage of time. Results showed that creative generation was characterized by broader within-response semantic range and reduced contextual uncertainty, reflecting a balance between conceptual divergence and structural coherence. Creativity was also associated with greater temporal overproduction and absolute proportional error, whereas unconventionality improved temporal precision without a directional bias. The coefficient of variation showed no significant condition effect, indicating no detectable differences in relative trial-to-trial variability. Exploratory multilevel mediation revealed an indirect association between semantic range and temporal overproduction through speech duration, implicating verbal production dynamics in the relationship between semantic exploration and timing. Subjective passage of time was faster in creative and unconventional conditions compared to conventional, dissociating subjective temporal experience from prospective interval production. Physiologically, creative generation reduced phasic electrodermal activity, whereas unconventionality increased tonic skin conductance. Across trials, higher heart rate and phasic electrodermal activity were associated with shorter produced intervals. Overall, these findings reveal that temporal experience during creative thought reflects distinct contributions from embodied speech production dynamics and internal autonomic pacing.
ER -