Estímulo virtual com alterações de velocidade modifica o desempenho na estimativa do tempo e altera a assimetria na banda teta do córtex frontal e temporal

Abstract

The capacity to perceive time is subjective and developed by the individuals experiences and surroundings. However, regions that integrate and encode these data are observed. Time perception (TP) may be influenced by biopsychosocial factors, such as emotion, memory, attention and dynamic visual stimuli. In this context, virtual reality (VR) emerges as a tool that stimulates the training of this cognitive ability. Although associations between TP and VR are known, its electrophysiological repercussions are still obscure. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance, the electrophysiological modifications and the attention behaviour of individuals submitted to non-immersive VR, with stimulus speed alterations, during the accomplishment of a time estimation task. The research consisted of a crossover procedure, which occurred in four consecutive days, with 21 volunteers. All the volunteers were exposed to different speed conditions (original, slow and fast). The electroencephalogram was used to capture the activity of theta band asymmetry during the task. Moreover, the evaluation of Stroop attention test was carried out, without capture. The results reflected the influence of the three different speeds in different moments, where the worst performance was evidenced by the greater number of errors found in the original condition and after the virtual stimulus (p<0.05). Besides, an increase in the activity of theta band asymmetry on the frontal and temporal cortices (p<0.05) was highlighted, mainly after the VR and with left hemispheric predominance. Different patterns of activation and predominance were not exclusively originated by the virtual stimulus.