"The distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." -Albert Einstein
PERCEPTION OF TIME
Everyone's perception of time is unique, and it is influenced, at least in part, by what our senses tell us about the outside world. Time perception is the meaning we ascribe to the unfolding of serial events in our life. Our time experience need not just be a series of events but also many different sensory experiences that overlap simultaneously. Time perception primarily organizes our awareness by drawing a line that connects the events of the past, present, and expectations of our future.
When one's experience of time is linked to the length of a continuing interval and the observer is aware of the need to estimate that length, it is referred to as prospective experience. The experience of time is retrospective when an observer is unaware of the requirement to estimate duration until the end of a target interval. New experiences, but not familiar ones, are encoded into memory by our brain. Our retrospective evaluation of time is based on how many new memories we make throughout time.
The Scalar Expectancy Theory
There are a few basic frameworks that hypothesize how time is perceived. The scalar expectancy theory suggests that a pacemaker in our brain releases signals collected in an accumulator when we pay attention to time passing. The values in the accumulator will be compared to reference memories of a similar event to evaluate how much time had passed in the previous event. Suppose the ratio between the values from the previous event to the present event is below a threshold. In that case, the person infers that the present time interval is equal to the memory of the past event. According to this model, time is estimated depending on the number of impulses accumulated during the interval of time.
ILLUSIONS OF TIME
Is "Now" Actually Shorter?
According to the 'proportional theory,' as we get older, our sense of 'now' time feels shorter than our lifespan; therefore, a year may feel shorter in old age than in childhood. Our view of an event is also influenced by its emotional quality. When you are having a good time, time flies. Each new period you live is smaller than all the previous periods. The fact that a single day (or an hour) represents a much larger proportion of a young person's life as compared to older people; the general slowing down of most organic processes in older people's bodies; the lower dopamine levels i.e., younger people are still living through new and interesting (rather than repeated and routine) experiences, requiring more neural resources and brainpower, and are less subject to the neural adaptation experienced by older people. It's possible that as we become older, our biological clocks slow down in some way.
The mind considers empty spaces of activity in time as shorter in the past as compared to spaces filled with activity. The holiday paradox explains why the more fresh memories we make on a weekend getaway, the longer it will seem in retrospect. This is the greatest explanation for why, in retrospect, time seems to fly by as we get older.
Does Time Actually Vary As We See?
Because of the spatial gap between consecutive stimuli, the kappa effect occurs when the time duration between a sequence of consecutive stimuli is considered to be larger or shorter than its actual elapsed time. The brain appears to be wired to anticipate temporal intervals that provide continuous velocity.
When Suddenly World Seems To Slow Down.
The so-called " oddball effect " happens when the brain encounters anything uncommon or out of the ordinary; the so-called "oddball effect" happens. In this instance, the brain pays close attention. It takes extra time to process the event, attempting to record as much information as possible about the unique circumstances, giving the impression that time has slowed.
This is especially true when a person encounters a novel or distressing sensory stimulation, especially one that looks to be a potential threat or mate. The slowing of our internal clock is caused by variations in the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (adrenaline).
Or When It Seems To Have Stopped.
The stopped clock illusion, also known as chronostasis, occurs when the brain's first impression of a new event or task demand appears to be extended in time. The most common example is when the second hand of an analog clock appears to freeze in place after a person looks at it for a short amount of time. Within the auditory system, there is a similar illusion.
BRAIN REGIONS INVOLVED
The frontal cortex works in association with the internal clock, which helps connect the specific task at hand to the internal clock. In situations that involve shifting between two or more tasks consecutively, the frontal lobe helps in providing information about what task was done the last and what task was done way before that, thereby giving us cues to implement the appropriate option among a set of tasks. Lesions in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in some patients have resulted in impaired performance in tasks requiring time discrimination and related regulation of behavior.
The parts of the basal ganglia are involved in detecting patterns of cortical or thalamic oscillations and then synchronizing firings towards specific requirements of time perception. The cerebellum is believed to control motor signals through two systems of time- one which is automatically involved during activities done in milliseconds and another is 'controlled cognitively' involving attention and memory that usually takes minutes of time.
IMPAIRMENTS IN TIME PERCEPTION
Depression usually involves the feeling that time is moving 'very slowly.' This could be possible because of the emptiness and disinterest in almost all aspects of life in depression.
ADHD patients usually report the duration between two events as being 'too short.'
Schizophrenia patients cannot remember when an event occurred even when they know what the event was with great clarity.
Meet the author
I am Sacheth, an undergraduate psychology student. I am an avid reader of books that dwell on the intricacies of our brains and minds. I like appreciating the philosophical underpinnings of contemporary literature on Psychology and Neuroscience. I like communicating these ideas to a larger population through this blog. I am a staunch empiricist who emphasises the scientific method. I strive to make my audience think with the same rigour.
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