Time Perception

Time perception refers to a person's subjective experience of the passage of time, or the perceived duration of events, which can differ significantly ... Skiptocontent Everyindividualperceivestheflowoftimedifferently Timeperceptionreferstoaperson’ssubjectiveexperienceofthepassageoftime,ortheperceiveddurationofevents,whichcandiffersignificantlybetweendifferentindividualsand/orindifferentcircumstances.Althoughphysicaltimeappearstobemoreorlessobjective,psychologicaltimeissubjectiveandpotentiallymalleable,exemplifiedbycommonphraseslike“timeflieswhenyouarehavingfun”and“awatchedpotneverboils”.Thismalleabilityismadeparticularlyapparentbythevarioustemporalillusionsweexperience. Asafieldofstudywithinpsychologyandneuroscience,timeperceptioncameofageinthelate19thCenturywiththestudiesoftherelationshipbetweenperceivedandmeasuredtimebyoneofthefoundersofmodernexperimentalpsychology,GustavTheodorFechner. Wedonotsomuchperceivetimeitself,butchangesinorthepassageoftime,orwhatmightbedescribedas“eventsintime”.Inparticular,weareawareofthetemporalrelationsbetweenevents,andweperceiveeventsasbeingeithersimultaneousorsuccessive.Wealsohaveaperceptionofthesequenceororderoftheseevents. Oursenseoftimeseemstohaveoriginatedasaproductofhumanevolution,anditisnotapurelyautomaticorinnateprocess,butacomplexactivitythatwedevelopandactivelylearnaswegrow.Humansare,asfarasweknow,theonlyanimalstobeconsciouslyawareofthepassageoftimeand ourownimpermanenceandmortality,andtohaveaconsciousnessofthepastthatisanythingmorethanpureinstinctandbehaviouralconditioning. HowWePerceiveTime Althoughpsychologistsbelievethatthereisaneurologicalsystemgoverningtheperceptionoftime,itappearsnottobeassociatedwithspecificsensorypathways,butratherusesahighlydistributedsysteminthebrain(seethesectiononBiopsychology).Timeperceptionthereforediffersfromourothersenses–sight,hearing,taste,smell,touch,evenproprioception–sincetimecannotbedirectlyperceived,andsomustbe“reconstructed”insomewaybythebrain. Neurotransmitterssuchasdopamineandnorepinephrine(adrenaline)areintegrallyinvolvedinourperceptionoftime,althoughtheexactmechanismisstillnotwellunderstood.Thehumanbrainappearstopossesssomekindof“internalclock”(distinctfromthebiologicalorcircadianclock)whichislinkedtospecificdopaminelevels,orpossiblyevenseveraldifferentclocksworkingtogetherbutindependently,eachofwhichmaydictateourtimeperceptiondependingontheparticularcontext(seethesectiononBiopsychologyformoredetail). Whenthebrainreceivesnewinformationfromtheoutsideworld,therawdatadoesnotnecessarilyarriveintheorderneededtoprocessitproperly.Thebrainthereforereorganizestheinformationandpresentsitinamoreeasilyunderstandableform.Inthecaseoffamiliarinformation,verylittletimeisneededforthisprocess,butnewinformationrequiresmoreprocessingandthisextraprocessingtendstomakestimefeelelongated.Thisispartofthereasonwhyachild’ssummerseemstolastforever,whileanoldperson’swell-practicedroutineseemstoslipawayfasterandfaster.Themorefamiliarthetask,thelessnewinformationthebrainneedstoprocess,andthemorequicklytimeseemstopass. Tosomeextentalso,theperceptionoftimeisassociatedwithothercognitiveprocessessuchasattention.Measuringthedurationofanevent–whetheritbethelengthoftimetoleaveasaucetosimmer, estimatinghowfasttoruntocatchaball,orcalculatingwhetherthereisenoughtimetodrivethroughayellowlight–requiresacertainamountofattention,andneweventsappeartotakelongerthanfamiliareventsbecausemoreattentionispaidtothem.Forinstance,inpsychologicaltests,ifthesamepictureisshownagainandagain,interspersedeverysooftenwithadifferentpicture,thedifferentpictureisperceivedbytheobserverasstayingon-screenforlonger,evenifallthepicturesactuallyappearforthesamelengthoftime.Thedifferencearisesfromthedegreeofattentionpaidtothepictures. Theperceptionoftimedurationsisalsocruciallyboundupwithmemory.Itisessentiallyourmemoryofanevent(andperhaps,evenmorespecifically,ourmemoryofthebeginningandendoftheevent)thatallowsustoformaperceptionof,orabeliefin,itsduration.Weinfer,albeitsubconsciously,thedurationofaneventfromourmemoryofhowfarinthepastsomethingoccurred,ofhowlongagothebeginningandendoftheeventoccurred.Itisnotclearwhetherthisisdonebysomemeasureofthestrengthofamemorytracethatpersistsovertime(thestrengthmodeloftimememory),orbyaninferencebasedonassociationsbetweentheeventandothereventswhosedateortimeisknown(theinferencemodel). Thereisincreasingevidencethatananimal’smetabolicrateaffectsthewayitperceivestime.Ingeneral,largeranimalshaveaslowermetabolicrate,andtimepassesrelativelyrapidlyforthem.Smalleranimals,conversely,tendtohavefastermetabolisms,andexperiencetimeaspassingrelativelyslowly,sothattheycanperceivemoreeventsinthesameperiod.Studieshaveshownthatsmallanimalscaninfactdistinguishveryshortandveryquick-changingevents,whichisonereasonwhyaflycanavoidaswatterwithsuchapparentease.Inevolutionaryterms,theabilitytoperceivetimeonverysmallscalesmaybethedifferencebetweenlifeanddeathforsmall,vulnerableanimals. SequenceandDuration Weperceivetimeasseriesofeventsinasequence,separatebydurationsofvariouslengths.Ourexperienceisnotlimitedtoasingleseriesofevents,though,butweexperienceapluralityofoverlappingevents,sequencesanddurations. Ametronometickingatarateoftwoorthreetimesasecondisperceivedasanintegralsequence,asarhythm.Whentheticksarelessfrequent,though,sayatintervalsofthreeseconds,thesoundsappearstobenolongerperceivedasasequenceinthesameway,andeachsoundimpulseremainsanisolatedperceptualevent.Similarresultsoccurwithsloweddownspeechormusic:musicorspokensentencesareonlyrecognizableassuchwhentheirrhythmicpatternsandphrasesarepresentedatanoptimalspeedthatallowthemtoberecognizedasaperceptualunity. Theperceptionofadurationrequiresaminimumofabout0.1secondsinthecaseofvisualstimulisuchasaflash,ormuchless(0.01to0.02seconds)inthecaseofauditorystimuli.Stimuliofanyshortertimethanthesearethereforeperceivedasinstantaneous,andasnotrepresentinganydurationatall. >>Biopsychology Pages DefinitionofTime ExactlyWhatIsTime? GlossaryofTerms MeasurementofTime Calendars Clocks Periodization TimeStandards UnitsofMeasurement OtherAspectsofTime Ageing EternityandImmortality TimeinDifferentCultures TimeinLiterature TimeManagement PhilosophyofTime AncientPhilosophy EarlyModernPhilosophy ModernPhilosophy PhysicsofTime AbsoluteTime QuantumTime RelativisticTime TheArrowofTime TimeandtheBigBang TimeTravel PsychologyofTime BiologicalClock Biopsychology Chronophobia TemporalIllusions TimePerception SourcesandReferences