Beyond calories: the role of media pressure and body appreciation in shaping time perception of food cues in female adolescents.

Time perception is a complex cognitive construct shaped by emotional processes, which are themselves influenced by psychosocial factors such as media pressure, particularly during adolescence. In this context, the present study examines how exposure to high-calorie food images affects time perception in female adolescents, and how this effect is modulated by media pressure and body appreciation. Fifty-five female adolescents aged 14 to 19 years were recruited from a high school in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. Participants completed a temporal bisection task involving images of high- and low-calorie foods, followed by the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire, the Body Appreciation Scale, and the SCOFF Questionnaire (Sick, Control, One, Fat, Food). Results confirmed that high-calorie food cues led participants to overestimate durations compared with low-calorie pictures. This time-distortion effect was significantly amplified by greater perceived media pressure. Conversely, higher body appreciation showed a tendency to reduce the magnitude of this overestimation. These results indicate that sociocultural pressures alter cognition by shaping our relationship with food, with downstream effects on time perception. However, longitudinal or experimental designs will be necessary in future research to establish causal relationships. They emphasize the need for early bio-psycho-social interventions during adolescence, a critical window of sensitivity to media and body image.