How is perception of time associated with cognitive functioning? The relationship between time perspective and executive control

The aim of the present studies was to examine the relationship between time perspective and executive control. In two studies, executive control was assessed with tasks that require deliberate inhibition of automatic responses (antisaccade and go/no-go) and time perspective was assessed with the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. Additionally, in the first study, we controlled for intelligence and personality, whereas, in the second study, stress states were measured during task performance. Study 1 (N = 233) showed that Present Fatalism was negatively correlated with the antisaccade task. Furthermore, regression analysis indicated that the association between Present Fatalism and executive control was partly due to their shared variance with fluid intelligence. Study 2 (N = 128) explored the potential mediating role of test-related stress states in the relationship between executive control and time perspective. We found that different stress states mediated the relation between cognitive performance and time perspective. Specifically, task engagement mediated the relationship between Present Fatalism and inhibition, whereas for the connection between Past Negative and inhibition, distress was crucial. The results provide new insights on cognitive functioning in the context of the time perspective theory.