Buzz
While the clock’s tick might appear steady, the human mind is highly impressionable. Under certain conditions, time can appear to stretch, shrink, or even vanish. Recent studies have ventured deep into the curious nature of time, and the findings are nothing short of fascinating.
From the curious reason why time seems to speed up for older people, to how the language you speak can alter your sense of time, here are 10 factors that will forever change the way you perceive time.
10. The Time-Shifted Outdoors
An interesting phenomenon occurs when individuals from bustling cities immerse themselves in nature. Time appears to slow down. Hours seem to stretch out, and a weekend spent in the wilderness feels like it holds more value than two days in the office. Studies have revealed that this effect is so significant that when people walk the same distance—first in a city and then in nature—they perceive the outdoor walk as taking longer.
But why do beaches and forests evoke a sense of abundance in time? The calming effects of nature might be at play. Emotions influence how we experience time, and when someone feels more at ease during a hike, time seems to stretch, and the hours feel longer.
Curiously, the enchantment of green spaces doesn't just affect our sense of the present; it also influences how we perceive the past and future. Spending time in your favorite garden nook or enjoying a hike can make the brain less focused on the past and more attuned to what lies ahead.
9. Enjoyment and Boredom
Imagine purchasing a jigsaw puzzle with thousands of tiny pieces. At first, you're captivated by the challenge, and the hours fly by. But after a few days or weeks—maybe even months—the puzzle loses its charm. Spending half an hour assembling the blue sky portion feels like it lasts forever.
Scientists have long wondered why fun experiences seem to shorten our sense of time, while boredom can stretch it out (sometimes to an agonizing degree!). In 2019, Dr. Michael Shadlen, a neuroscientist at Columbia University, offered an intriguing explanation. It turns out that our thoughts have mental ‘horizons,’ which the brain uses to gauge the passage of time.
Here’s how it works. When reading a book, the 'horizons' are present at the end of every syllable, word, sentence, and page. Time either speeds up or slows down based on how we expect these horizons. When deeply engrossed, the brain anticipates both nearby and distant horizons, like the words and the conclusion of the story. This 'larger perspective' makes time fly. A dull book restricts the brain to closer horizons, like the end of a sentence. Since these horizons don’t form a complete picture, time seems to drag on.
8. Meditation Expands Time
The advantages of meditation are well-documented. It reduces stress, enhances sleep, helps manage difficult emotions, and promotes happiness. However, in 2019, researchers uncovered an intriguing discovery—meditation can also create more time. No, it’s not magical; rather, it 'creates' extra hours by altering how practitioners engage with life.
The study focused on a form of meditation known as mindfulness. This technique uses concentrated awareness to remain in the present moment. Volunteers participated in two 15-minute meditation sessions. During the second session, they were asked to estimate the duration of different time segments, ranging from 15 seconds to six minutes.
Participants consistently overestimated or underestimated the passage of time. For the shorter segments, many believed less time had passed. Surprisingly, they also thought more time had passed with the longer segments than had actually passed. This suggests that time can feel fuller, longer, and richer depending on how attentively one engages with the present moment.
7. Drugs Distort Time
Many recreational drug users find the ability of substances to warp time an enjoyable feature. While it’s not new information that drugs mess with our perception of time, it’s still fascinating to explore how certain substances pull off this trick and the time-bending effects they have on the mind.
Ecstasy and cocaine speed up time. Ironically, they allow users to party longer, yet the night passes too quickly. Cannabis enthusiasts already know that marijuana can make minutes feel like hours, and nights seem endless. Other drugs, like psychedelics, can even make users lose all sense of time.
But how do drugs hijack our perception of time? First, they alter the chemical signals in the brain. Stimulants boost mental activity, which accelerates time, while depressants reduce brain activity, slowing down the sense of time. Drugs also affect emotions and behaviors, both of which are key to how we experience time.
6. The Gaze of Another Person
Locking eyes with someone can evoke a range of emotions. An intense glare may intimidate, while a lover’s gaze can silently convey affection. In 2021, a study revealed that eye contact also has the ability to distort our sense of time.
The University of Geneva in Switzerland asked volunteers to watch two types of video clips. The first featured strangers staring intensely at the camera. The second set showed strangers briefly gazing at the camera before looking away. Participants had to judge whether the clips felt long or short.
In reality, the clips lasted between 986 milliseconds and 1.5 seconds. The clips where strangers briefly stared before looking away didn’t alter the volunteers’ perception of time. However, the intense stares made them believe the eye contact lasted shorter than it actually did.
5. The Heart Connection
The brain is an exceptional timekeeper, always tracking time even when we’re not actively focused on it. In 2023, researchers discovered that the brain isn’t the only organ involved in this task. Surprisingly, the heart also plays a significant role in how we subconsciously measure time.
Cornell University enlisted 45 students with excellent hearing and no history of heart disease. They were connected to electrocardiograms to track their heartbeats while listening to beeps ranging from 80 to 180 milliseconds. The students were asked to determine whether each tone was longer or shorter than the previous one.
When the students felt their heartbeat quicken, they perceived the tones as longer. When the heart slowed down, they reported the tones as shorter. This experiment demonstrated that the rhythm of the heart can impact how the brain perceives time, even when dealing with intervals (the tones) that are too brief to be consciously processed.
4. Quitting Smoking Disrupts Time Perception
Giving up smoking comes with its own set of challenges. Withdrawal symptoms can include irritability, restlessness, difficulty concentrating or sleeping, heightened cravings, and even anxiety and depression. In 2003, researchers from Penn State University discovered another lesser-known side effect of quitting: a distorted sense of time.
The study had non-smokers guess how much time had passed during a test. A researcher would say 'start' and, after some time, 'stop.' All the tests lasted exactly 45 seconds, but only the non-smokers and active smokers were able to accurately estimate the time.
A group of smokers who abstained from nicotine for 24 hours participated in the same test. Surprisingly, they estimated the 45-second duration to be 50% longer. The researchers concluded that this inability to accurately gauge time might explain why quitting can lead to a decline in performance at both work and in personal life.
3. Why Time Seems to Speed Up for Older Adults
For children, a summer vacation might feel like an eternity. For adults, however, these long, lazy days are often a distant memory. As we age, the years seem to pass by faster. While adults have more responsibilities, research suggests that these responsibilities alone don’t account for the sensation that each passing year seems to speed up.
Two prevailing theories suggest either our biological clocks change with age or that older people experience fewer novel events, leading to a faster sense of time as they lack the same influx of new information (think of how time seems to slow before an accident).
However, neither theory fully explains why time accelerates as we age. Researchers discovered a curious, almost mathematical pattern in this phenomenon, leading to an intriguing conclusion. Our brains perceive time in relation to the years we’ve already lived, comparing age doubling and assigning similar value to those periods.
To put it simply, the span between ages 5 and 10, and between 40 and 80, often feel quite similar. While four decades separate the latter range and only five years separate the former, it’s easy to understand why older individuals perceive the passage of time as 'faster.'
2. A Person’s Native Language
While it may seem unlikely, the way we speak can influence how we perceive time. A collaborative study by universities in South Africa and the UK revealed that language can affect whether a person accurately estimates time or misses the mark. The key factor is how native speakers conceptualize time.
In a 2017 study, Spanish and Swedish speakers were shown animated lines that grew longer, though not consistently. Unbeknownst to the participants, each line's growth took precisely three seconds.
The researchers hypothesized that the Swedish participants might struggle with the three-second trick, as they tend to think of time in terms of distance (e.g., a 'short' break). From a Swedish perspective, a longer line would naturally seem to take more time to grow than a shorter one. As expected, the Swedish group found it difficult to gauge the timing correctly. On the other hand, the Spanish speakers, who think of time in terms of volume (e.g., a 'small' break), quickly understood that all the animations lasted three seconds.
1. Film Editing
It may sound strange, but the way films are edited can actually affect how audiences perceive the passage of time. This idea was explored in 2023 when a study revealed that participants watched movie clips edited using either continuity or discontinuity techniques.
Continuity editing involves smoothly transitioning between shots while keeping the audience in the same 'situation.' For example, one scene might show a couple dining at a restaurant, followed by another where the waiter brings their food. In contrast, discontinuity editing disrupts the flow by introducing a completely new setting, such as a shot of a couple at a table followed by one of a dog running along the beach.
Participants watched clips edited in both styles, as well as some without any cuts, all of which were only slightly different in length. Despite the similar duration of each clip, viewers felt that those with continuity editing lasted longer.
Researchers believe this perception of extended time may arise from the brain’s need to reconcile the idea that, despite the camera angle changing, the story and setting remain the same. In contrast, discontinuity cuts clearly take the viewer to a new location and storyline, reducing the mental effort required for processing.
