Scientific Programme
Applied Sports Sciences
IS-AP01 - Navigating the Perception of Time in Sport: Psychological and Physiological Insights
Date: 02.07.2025, Time: 14:45 - 16:00, Session Room: Anfiteatro
Description
The concept of time perception and its relation to exercise is intriguing yet currently not well understood. As Einstein famously suggested, ‘put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute.’ In sport, an athlete’s perception of time is dynamically shaped by physiological and psychological states—from pre-event anticipation and in-event exertion to post-exercise reflection. Therefore, how athletes perceive time before, during, and after performance carries important implications for event preparation, training, motivational strategies, engagement, and post-exercise recovery. Such distortions suggest the brain’s management of time is deeply intertwined with physiological signals and the environment, impacting decision-making, strategies, and endurance. Misjudging time can result in pacing errors, cognitive fatigue, and under performance. During events, subjective time often diverges from objective time, distorted by discomfort, focus, or fatigue, leading athletes to experience time as either dragging or flying. Over the course of this symposium, we will explore these topics through three interlinked presentations examining pre-event strategies, in-event experiences, and post-event reflections from the sequential perspective of a performer, providing cutting-edge research evidence, building on existing concepts with new insights relevant to sport scientists, coaches & athletes.
Chair(s)
Andrew Edwards
Canterbury Christ Church University, Human and Life Sciences
United Kingdom
Speaker A
Marije Elferink-Gemser
University of Groningen, UMCG , Center for Human Movement Sciences
Netherlands
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Time perception and pre-event strategies
An Olympic champion does not wake up one morning as a non-athlete, over breakfast deciding to become the best athlete at the world stage in a certain sport & winning the gold medal that very same evening. It's evident that a long process over the course of many years precedes being successful at the Olympics. Time perception plays a critical role in this developmental journey, influencing both athlete & coach in shaping effective long-term strategies. How well time is perceived & managed can affect not only training volume & intensity but also the timing of peaks & recovery periods. Athletes must manage not just the present moment, but their longitudinal careers. In this session, we will explore the importance of time perception for an athlete’s development towards peak performance. This can relate to an Olympic champion but also extends to the broader population of recreational athletes who aim to improve themselves. When designing a training program a trainer needs to be aware of how many years, months, weeks & hours of training & recovery are needed for a certain athlete to meet the requirements of success during his or her sports career. Good time perception could be evident in structured long-term planning, such as periodization, managing avoiding injury and burnout as well as pitfalls such as misjudging pace. Several models, such as the LTAD model (Balyi, 2002) give direction to choices regarding the content of training in different phases of development but research is limited in how well trainers perform in terms of time perception. For athletes, peaking at the right moment is key. To perform optimally at the most important competition of the season, it seems paramount that good time-perception about how many months, weeks, days, and hours are available for physiological and psychological preparation leading up to the event is essential. Pre-event strategies not only involve these long-term perceptions of time for training and recovery, but also involve knowledge of the duration of the event itself so that the race or match can be planned accordingly. Several studies underscore the positive relation between pre-event planning and performance. For example, international competing athletes outscore their national level counterparts on planning their course of action (e.g., Jonker et al., 2010). However, the specific role of time-perception herein is still under investigated. From practice there are clear indications for its importance. For example, world-class athletes have shown to be able to accurately state the time how long their race lasts while in rest, sitting on a chair. Prior experience and knowledge of the likely demands of the exercise (e.g., ‘endtime') have been indicated to be important in managing physical resources to get the best possible outcome (Edwards & Polman, 2013). In this session we will explore how time perception influences the athlete's development journey from years out to the start of the race, drawing on research and examples of both good practice and common pitfalls to ensure success.
Speaker B
Stein Menting
Ulster University, School of Psychology
United Kingdom
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The dynamic perception of time during exercise
Athletes often report contrasting perceptions of time during exercise: moments when time flies (the race has barely begun and energy feels limitless) and others where time drags (fatigue builds, and every second feels longer). Despite the commonality of this experience, scientific investigation into time perception during exercise has only recently gained momentum. This is surprising given that athletic competitions are frequently decided by marginal differences, where well-timed decisions can be the key to victory. We will explore the dynamic relationship between time perception and exercise intensity, drawing from recent research on how individuals perceive time at varying levels of physical exertion. Empirical studies comparing subjective time perception in both fixed-intensity exercises and self-paced time trials (with and without competitive contexts) have revealed fascinating insights. Initial findings suggest that during maximal effort, athletes experience a slowing of perceived time, likely due to a heightened focus on internal signals associated with fatigue (Edwards & McCormick, 2017). In contrast, during self-regulated efforts, athletes respond dynamically to both internal cues and the behaviour of competitors (Edwards et al 2024). Within this context, the competitive environment act as an external distraction, potentially counteracting the exercise-induced slowing of time. Physical discomfort during high-intensity efforts appears to narrow attentional focus, placing athletes "in the moment" and making time seem to drag. Conversely, competitive environments may shift attention outward, diverting focus from the present and seemingly overriding the sensation of time slowing down. To close out, we will survey the practical applications of these findings. By leveraging the effects of external stimuli on time perception, new strategies for enhancing performance can emerge. Cognitive distractions, such as the use of music, visualization, or social comparison in competitive environments, can counteract ‘associative’ sensations like pain feedback during exercise. For example, listening to fast-paced music during a workout has been shown to increase motivation and reduce the perception of effort, effectively altering the athletes experience of time and making intense intervals feel shorter. Virtual reality has the potential to immerse athletes in environments where time might be artificially sped up or slowed down, allowing for unique training experiences. Other techniques, such as visual pacing systems like LED lights on athletic tracks, have also helped athletes break long-standing world records by altering perceptions of time and effort. This exploration of time perception offers a fresh perspective on performance optimization, with broad implications for training, competition strategies, and athlete development.
Speaker C
Andrew Edwards
Canterbury Christ Church University, Human and Life Sciences
United Kingdom
Read CVECSS Rimini 2025: IS-AP01
Post-exercise time perception and its impact on reflection, enjoyment and training adherence
Time perception extends beyond the immediate experience of exercise, influencing how athletes reflect on their sessions, how much they enjoy the activity, and their future training adherence. The perception of time during exercise can distort the athlete's memory of the session, particularly if viewed as overtly painful or unenjoyable. This is critical because post-exercise reflections can shape motivation. Using latest time perception data from populations such as professional soccer (Edwards et al. 2024), this presentation will extend findings to other sports and physical activity contexts, offering practical applications for optimising training design, session structure, and motivation strategies. Research shows that athletes' enjoyment and perception of time during exercise vary greatly, usually driven by personal motivations. This perception of time not only affects athletes' in-the-moment experience, but also their reflection on the session afterwards, influencing their overall attitude towards future training. This concept has wide-reaching implications into all sports, physical activity, and public health. In endurance sports such as running and cycling, athletes often report that high-intensity intervals feel much longer due to perceived exertion, potentially making these sessions less appealing despite their physical benefits. This presentation will suggest strategies to manipulate time perception to enhance motivation and potentially reduce the feeling of time dragging, increasing perceived enjoyment, which is critical for long-term exercise adherence. In recreational physical activity settings, such as group exercise classes or public health programmes aimed at encouraging people to be more active, organising sessions to enhance enjoyment and reduce the "dragging" perception of time could have a substantial impact on retention and motivation. For example, research has shown that structured, engaging activities like dance-based fitness classes or sports-specific drills tend to increase enjoyment and make time feel as though it passes quickly. Conversely, less interactive and monotonous workouts, like steady-state cardio without engaging stimuli, often feel longer and lead to boredom, decreasing the likelihood that participants will adhere in the long-term. This session will highlight practical ways to restructure training to take advantage of time perception dynamics. For instance, incorporating enjoyable activities—such as sport-specific activities to create a dissociative effect, where athletes become less aware of physical discomfort, making the session feel shorter and more engaging. Integrating subjective time perception into more robust training load (TL) assessments could refine how coaches balance objective and subjective measures. Adjusting models like session-RPE to account for how long athletes feel they have worked—rather than just how hard—could provide a more comprehensive understanding of their mental and physical states, leading to better-managed workloads and recovery protocols.