Time Warped

1. Time perception is subjective and actively constructed by our minds

We construct the experience of time in our minds, so it follows that we are able to change the elements we find troubling – whether it's trying to stop the years racing past, or speeding up time when we're stuck in a queue, trying to live more in the present, or working out how long ago we last saw our old friends.

Our minds create time. The way we experience time is not a passive process, but an active construction by our brains. This subjective experience can vary greatly between individuals and situations. For example:

• In extreme situations like accidents or near-death experiences, time can seem to slow down dramatically.
• During enjoyable activities, time often feels like it's "flying by."
• As we age, years seem to pass more quickly than they did in our youth.

Our perception of time is influenced by factors such as memory, concentration, emotion, and our sense of time being rooted in space. This explains why time can feel different in various contexts, and why we have the ability to mentally time-travel by remembering the past or imagining the future.

2. Fear, attention, and emotion profoundly influence our experience of time

When people are afraid they might die, whether in a situation like Alan's, in a plummeting glider like Chuck Berry's, or in a car accident, they often report that the event lasted far longer than was possible.

Emotions warp time perception. Fear, in particular, can dramatically slow down our perception of time. This phenomenon is well-established and can occur even in non-life-threatening situations:

• People with phobias overestimate the duration of exposure to their feared object.
• Novice skydivers perceive their fall as lasting longer than experienced skydivers.
• In experiments where people are thrown backwards off buildings (safely), they report time slowing down.

Attention also plays a crucial role. When we focus intensely on the passage of time itself, it tends to feel slower. This explains why boredom can make time drag and why waiting in queues often feels longer than it actually is. Conversely, when we're absorbed in an activity, time seems to pass more quickly.

3. Memory plays a crucial role in shaping our perception of time's passage

We don't remember days; we remember moments.

Memories create time. Our perception of how quickly time has passed is heavily influenced by the memories we form. This explains several phenomena:

• The "reminiscence bump": We tend to have more vivid memories from our late teens and early twenties, making that period of life seem longer in retrospect.
• Why time seems to speed up as we age: We form fewer distinct memories as we settle into routines, making years seem to fly by.
• The "Holiday Paradox": Vacations feel short while we're on them but long when we look back, due to the many new memories formed.

Our autobiographical memory is selective and reconstructive. We don't store perfect records of events but rather reconstruct them each time we remember, often altering details. This flexibility in memory is crucial for our ability to imagine and plan for the future.

4. The brain uses multiple regions to process time, not a single "clock"

So far the competing ideas I've covered for how we count time are these: the presence of a clock or series of clocks, a system based on emotional moments, or something simpler like an ability to gauge size.

Multiple brain regions process time. Despite extensive research, no single "clock" has been found in the brain. Instead, several areas are involved in our perception of time:

• The cerebellum: Crucial for timing in the millisecond range
• The basal ganglia: Important for timing intervals of a few seconds
• The frontal lobe: Involved in working memory and planning
• The anterior insular cortex: Processes bodily sensations and emotions

These areas work together to create our sense of time passing. Different theories propose various mechanisms:

• Scalar Expectancy Theory: A pacemaker generates pulses that are counted by an accumulator
• Multiple Clock Theory: Different timers for different durations
• State-Dependent Network Model: Timing emerges from the activity patterns of neural networks

The involvement of multiple brain regions explains why our perception of time can be influenced by so many factors, including emotions, attention, and memory.

5. Visualizing time spatially affects how we think about and experience it

Although you'll visualise it in different ways, research suggests that for around 20 per cent of the readers of this book, the idea that you can see time in the mind's eye will make complete sense. And for the other 80 per cent, strange as it might sound, you may 'see' time to a greater extent than you think you do.

Time is often spatial in our minds. Many people visualize time as occupying space, which can influence how they think about and experience it:

• Some see months as a circle or oval, with certain months elongated (e.g., summer months for those with school-year memories)
• Others visualize years as a line, with the past on the left and future on the right (influenced by reading direction in Western cultures)
• This spatial representation can affect how we process time-related information and make decisions

The way we visualize time can even influence our language and decision-making. For example, whether we see ourselves as moving through time or time as moving towards us can affect how we interpret phrases like "moving a meeting forward."

Understanding these spatial visualizations can help us better manage our time and plan for the future. It also explains why some people are naturally better at organizing their time or remembering dates.

6. As we age, time seems to speed up due to fewer novel experiences

If you fill your weekend with activities and go out for the day on both Saturday and Sunday to do something new, the minutes and hours will pass fast because you are so absorbed, but at the end of the weekend you will feel as though you have had more than two days off work.

Novelty slows perceived time. The sensation that time speeds up as we get older is a common experience, but it's not due to proportionality (i.e., a year being a smaller fraction of our total life). Instead, it's related to how we form and recall memories:

• Novel experiences create stronger, more detailed memories
• In youth, we have more new experiences, leading to more vivid memories
• As we age and settle into routines, we form fewer distinct memories
• Looking back, periods with fewer distinct memories seem to have passed more quickly

This understanding provides a strategy for "slowing down" time:

• Seek out new experiences and break routines
• Travel to new places
• Learn new skills
• Engage in varied activities

By creating more novel experiences and memories, we can make our subjective experience of time feel richer and fuller, even as we age.

7. Our ability to imagine the future is linked to our capacity to remember the past

It is obvious that we learn from experience, but taking this one step further perhaps the primary purpose of memory has nothing to do with looking back, but more to do with allowing us to look forward and imagine possible futures.

Memory enables future thinking. Our ability to mentally time-travel into the future is closely linked to our capacity to remember the past:

• Brain imaging shows that imagining the future activates many of the same brain regions as remembering the past
• People with amnesia often struggle to imagine specific future events
• We construct imagined future scenarios by recombining elements from past memories

This connection between memory and future thinking has several implications:

• It explains why our memories are flexible rather than fixed like videotapes
• It suggests that a primary purpose of memory might be to help us anticipate and plan for the future
• It highlights the importance of rich, varied experiences in developing our capacity for future planning

Understanding this link can help us make better decisions by recognizing our biases in imagining future outcomes and emotions.

8. The "Holiday Paradox" explains why vacations feel short but long in retrospect

A good holiday passes disappointingly fast. Compared with the months of anticipation and hard work saving up the money to go, the actual time spent away is short. Take a holiday that is a week long. After the first couple of days settling in, you have just two or three days' holiday before you find yourself in the run-up to leaving and already you're calculating when you will need to set off for the airport. It was over in a flash. Conversely, you get home and something strange happens. You look back on your holiday and it feels as though you were away for some time.

Time warps on vacation. The Holiday Paradox describes the common experience of time seeming to pass quickly during a vacation but feeling long in retrospect. This phenomenon occurs due to how we perceive time in two different ways:

1. Prospective time perception (during the experience):

   • New experiences and lack of routine make time feel like it's passing quickly
   • Absence of usual time markers (work schedule, etc.) contributes to this feeling

2. Retrospective time perception (looking back):

   • Many new memories are formed during the vacation
   • These numerous distinct memories make the period feel longer in retrospect

This paradox illustrates how our perception of time can vary depending on whether we're experiencing it in the moment or recalling it later. It also explains why periods of routine (like work weeks) can seem to drag in the moment but fly by in retrospect – they create fewer distinct memories.

9. Mindfulness and "flow" states can alter our perception of time's passage

'Flow' is the name for a special state of mind identified by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It means you become so absorbed in the task at hand that you think about nothing else and soon have no idea how long you might have been doing it.

Mindfulness and flow change time. These mental states can significantly alter our perception of time:

Mindfulness:

• Focuses attention on the present moment
• Can make time feel slower and more expansive
• Has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety

Flow:

• A state of complete absorption in an activity
• Can make time seem to disappear or pass very quickly
• Often associated with peak performance and enjoyment

Both states can help combat the feeling of time rushing by, though in different ways:

• Mindfulness by expanding our awareness of the present
• Flow by creating deeply engaging experiences that form strong memories

Cultivating these states through practices like meditation or engaging in absorbing hobbies can enrich our experience of time and potentially increase well-being.

10. Understanding time perception can help us make better decisions and plan more effectively

The public response to a proposal will be strongest when it is first announced. Cognitive processes will cause people to focus on the main features and the initial impact a policy will have on them. Research on the Impact Bias tells us that in the future people are likely to feel less strongly.

Time insights improve decisions. Understanding how we perceive and misperceive time can help us make better choices and plan more effectively:

• Recognizing the "Impact Bias" (overestimating the duration of emotional reactions to future events) can lead to more realistic expectations
• Awareness of the "Planning Fallacy" (underestimating how long tasks will take) can help us set more realistic deadlines
• Understanding how we reconstruct memories can improve our ability to learn from past experiences

This knowledge has implications beyond personal decision-making:

• Policy makers can use it to better anticipate public reactions to new initiatives
• Businesses can improve project planning and customer satisfaction
• Educators can design more effective learning experiences

By recognizing the subjective nature of time perception, we can develop strategies to work with our minds rather than against them, leading to better outcomes in various aspects of life.

Last updated: September 4, 2024