At first glance, it seems that time should flow the same for all people. There is a clock and a calendar, where everything is indicated with clear numbers … Nevertheless, our ideas about time depend on many factors, and above all - on the characteristics of our personality and on the specific situation and circumstances. Unclear? Well, let's figure it out …
Does time flow or are we moving through it?
Imagine, for example, that your colleague, boss, or business partner sets up a meeting “in two business days”. Today is Wednesday. If you imagine the current time "in front of you", then it is logical that the meeting will take place on Monday. If you imagine yourself "wading" through time, then most likely it will be Friday. In general, it is better to check with the one who appointed, because he has his own "troubles" …
Perception of time can also be related to what you are doing at a particular moment. Take the meeting case. If you are informed about it when you are at the end of a long line or on the train halfway to your destination, then you are more likely to decide that the meeting will take place on Monday. If the line is about to come up or your train is approaching the station, then it is natural to assume that the meeting will be on Friday …
This is explained as follows. If you are waiting for something, time seems to flow ahead of you. If you are not in "standby mode", then it seems to you that you yourself are moving through time …
Impression effect
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Another factor that influences our perception of time is space. Let's say we go to an unfamiliar place for the first time. Since we do not know in advance how long the road will take (what if we turn the wrong way or not immediately find the right house), we measure the path by the number of impressions received, writes Claudia Hammond in the book "Distortion: Revealing the Secrets of Perception of Time" Because of this, the path may seem longer to us than it really is. On the way back, we follow the already familiar road, and the path often seems shorter, since the brain simply recognizes landmarks, but does not form new memories … The same effect, by the way, occurs when traveling by transport - by car, bus or train.
The illusion of space
The sense of time can be influenced by the location of objects in space. So, if there is a row of lamps in front of us, which are located at different distances from each other, but are sequentially lit, the intervals between the flashes will seem to us longer or shorter, depending on the distance between the lamps. In science, this is called the "kappa effect".
Ahead or behind?
In our minds, we also associate time with our own body. We say, "Looking back at the past." Or: "There are important things ahead of me." Therefore, we perceive the past as standing behind us and the future as standing in front of us. At least, these are the ideas about time in European cultures.
But the Aymara Indians living in Bolivia and Peru, speaking of the past, show their hand in front of them. It is also interesting that in almost all cultures, when talking about the future, people gesture vaguely, for example, spreading their arms around themselves. For most of us, future events lie "somewhere" in space, but where exactly, we do not know. And rightly so, since we really do not know what will happen to us in the future, even the very near …
The years speed up time
The perception of time changes significantly with age. The older we get, the faster time seems to us to pass. This is due to the fact that over the years, our brain begins to synthesize visual and sound information more slowly. In childhood and adolescence, we absorb a lot of impressions, so the day goes "for a year."
Michael Barnett-Cowan and his colleagues from the University of Waterloo (Canada) conducted an experiment on several dozen volunteers of different ages. They had to respond to two types of stimuli - white circles on the monitor screen and sound signals. In some cases, the picture and sound were output simultaneously, in others, two pictures or two sounds were output …
The subjects' task was to press one of two buttons. The first one should be pressed if the audio information was received simultaneously with the visual one, the second - if only one type of information was received. Only three seconds were allotted for reflection …
People over 50 were more likely to make mistakes by pressing the wrong button. This happened especially often when they were asked to remember which of the stimuli was the first and which was the second.
According to Barnett-Cowan, the brain of older people simply does not have time to integrate heterogeneous information, which is why they get the impression that time passes faster. The research findings were published in the journal Experimental Brain Research.