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Aug 23, 2011

Why Time Passing Can Seem Like Torture

Why some moments can sometimes painfully drag on is still a mystery to brain scientists. But a recent study found some neurons seem to develop expectations that can make time pass more slowly.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, scientists identified channels of neurons that adapt to perceive certain lengths of time. The researchers exposed study subjects to a series of beeps and flashes of the same duration. When they increased the duration just slightly, the subjects perceived that the signals were way longer than they actually were.

When the beeps and flashes were significantly longer, the subjects were better at predicting the duration.

The study seems to reinforce the idea that expectations often lead to disappointment and frustration. It does not, however, explain why an hour-long massage always seems too short.

Along those lines, a researcher named David Eagleman looks at how to slow time down when it feels like the days are flying by too fast. One suggestion: keep new experiences in your life. Familiar information is easy for our brains to process, and the harder we make our brains work the slower time seems to pass.
 
 

9 comments:

my day in a sentence said...

This article is, basicaly, about my summer.

WizWayne said...

lol it really is torture!!

ghostman49.5 said...

It really sucks that time can be either tortuously slow or insanely fast. I've yet to come across a point to where time has been on my side.

Adam said...

very good blog!

Zach said...

Nice research

Anonymous said...

I agree to this post!

Life, Liberty and Accountability said...

nice read, i like your blogs new design!

The Spaghetti Westerner said...

Wow; that's really interesting. But I'd also like the answer to the one hour massage question...

Sub Radar (Mike) said...

That's just for people who can't keep themselves busy or are stuck somewhere they don't want to be.