Time Perception after Brain Injury in Adolescents

Abstract

Relevance. This study is important for understanding the children’s recovery process after brain damage and it also sets the stage for further research on the time perception in states of reduced or depressed consciousness. Goal. This article is devoted to the study of changes in time perception (сhronoception) among adolescent children after they have got moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury. Method. The data obtained on children who have experienced post-traumatic state of mental confusion while recovering from brain injuries (n = 19) were compared with two control groups: adolescents with no brain damage (n = 25) and young people (n = 14). Results. Based on the data obtained it can be inferred that after having had brain injuries, children experience significant difficulties both in assessing the current time and in subjective timing of the minute interval. When restoring the psychological status after brain injuries, the formation of spatio-temporal connections, the ability to interiorise external eventfulness and the emergence of a correspondence between perceptual and conceptual times, are required due to the actualization of internal senses. It is suggested that the restoration of chronoception depends not only on the level of recovery of the child’s consciousness after a brain injury.