FINDING THE FLOW
Ontological, Phenomenological, and Methodological Perspectives on Subjective Time
SPEAKERS: Federica Cavaletti, Marina Elena Cazzaniga, Marcin Moskalewicz, Ilaria Terrenghi, Giuliano Torrengo, Marc Wittmann
Started in 2024, the project TIMELAPSE. A VR application for speeding up time passage during chemotherapy proposed to design, prototype, and test a virtual reality (VR) application to accelerate subjective time passage during chemotherapy. Grounded in the existing literature on time passage and flow, TIMELAPSE also innovatively adopted a patient-centred approach. This allowed to incorporate in the design of the VR application the irreplaceable perspective of its end-users: the cancer patients.
Having brought TIMELAPSE to its conclusion, we are ready to share its main outcomes and to invite the audience to test in first person the brand-new VR app. At the same time, we wish to transform the research we conducted into an opportunity to spark a wider discussion on the topic of subjective time.
In fact, working empirically on time perception never fails to lead back to key ontological, phenomenological, as well as methodological questions.
What is the actual structure of the temporal experience? What is its relation to our bodily feelings and emotions? What happens to our sense of time when we are affected by organic or mental illnesses, or when we go through altered states of consciousness? How can we capture and possibly even measure such a complex construct, without losing its experiential richness?
The complexity of these and similar issues calls for concretely interdisciplinary work, and the pursuit of innovative methodological paths. The future of time research, so to speak, lays at the crossroad between the humanities, the natural and the social sciences, as well as in a blend of qualitative and quantitative empirical research.
With this conference, we wish to contribute to advancing the state of the art on subjective time according to these guiding principles.
TIMELAPSE’s team members will share the project’s main results, and prominent international scholars will use them as a springboard to present their related and most recent research, in a multi-perspective exchange.
Full programme and abstracts coming soon
REFERENCES
Cavaletti, F. (2021). Virtual Reality as A Time-Dissolving Machine in Distressing Medical Treatments. Current Perspectives and Future Directions. Reti, Saperi, Linguaggi, 8(1), 155-176.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. Basic Books.
Csikszentmihalyi M. (1975). Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. The Experience of Play in Work and Games. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Larson E.A., & von Eye A. (2006). Predicting the Perceived Flow of Time from Qualities of Activity and Depth of Engagement. Ecological Psychology, 18(2), 113-130.
Larson E.A, & von Eye A. (2010). Beyond Flow: Temporality and Participation in Everyday Activities. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64(1), 152-163.
Moskalewicz, M., Popova, Y., & Wiertlewska-Bielarz, J. (2022). Lived time in ovarian cancer–A qualitative phenomenological exploration. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 56, 102083.
Mullen, G., & Davidenko, N. (2021). Time Compression in Virtual Reality. Timing & Time Perception, 9(4), 377-392.
Rutrecht, H., Wittmann, M., Khoshnoud, S., & Igarzábal, F. A. (2021). Time speeds up during flow states: A study in virtual reality with the video game thumper. Timing & Time Perception, 9(4), 353-376.
Szuła, A., Moskalewicz, M., & Stanghellini, G. (2024). Transdiagnostic assessment of temporal experience (TATE) in mental disorders—empirical validation and adaptation of a structured phenomenological interview. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 13(15), 4325.
Torrengo, G. (2024). Temporal Experience: The Atomist Dynamic Model. Oxford University Press.
Torrengo, G., & Cassaghi, D. (2024). Flow and presentness in experience. Analytic Philosophy, 65(2), 109-130.
Wittmann, M. (2016). Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time. MIT Press.