Hello friends! I hope you had a fantastic week.
Inspiration from today’s post comes from a conversation I had with a friend a few weeks ago: we were talking about reading suggestions and he mentioned a book he was reading (When Einstein Walked with Gödel, by Jim Holt). While he did not give a 5 stars rating to the book itself, he quoted something about the relativity of time that really stuck with me:
By the age of eight, due to the novelty and richness of early experiences, individuals have subjectively lived two-thirds of their perceived life.
This is because new experiences create dense, vivid memories, making time feel elongated during those years. As we age and experiences become more routine, fewer new memories are formed, leading to the perception that time speeds up.
I initially took this very seriously as a father (that was the discussion we were having as we both have young kids) and thought about how important is the time I spend NOW with my kids and how impactful that will be on their development. But more importantly about how important these years are for their life experiences at large, how much time they spend with friends, family, teachers, exploring the world etc…
But then also started thinking about myself and how actually true that was, how some years look so relevant for our formation and feel like they lasted forever (in my case it’s the summers, it feels like I did so many things in one single summer…) and some others literally flew by.
As things happen to me these days, I feel into this cone and started gathering more information and insights on this topic of time perception and brain development. And I stumbled upon this very interesting post by a neuroscientist named David Eagleman. He explores the science behind our perception of time, particularly why time feels like it slows down during intense moments and why it accelerates as we age.
In the post, Eagleman recounts a personal experience from his childhood that sparked his lifelong interest in time perception. When he was eight years old, he fell from a roof and experienced the fall in what felt like slow motion. Despite the fall taking only 0.6 seconds, he vividly remembered it feeling much longer, with detailed thoughts and observations passing through his mind during the brief event. This early encounter with the subjective elongation of time during a life-threatening moment stayed with him and influenced his later research in neuroscience.
Even if you have not suffered such a traumatic event I am sure we all have had similar experiences.
The Neuroscientific Perspective
David Eagleman’s experiences and the anecdotes he collected raised several questions: Does time actually slow down during intense moments? How can this phenomenon be scientifically tested? What mechanisms in the brain cause these perceptions?
Concept of Higher Frame Rate
One hypothesis Eagleman explored is that during critical moments, the brain might operate at a higher frame rate, similar to how slow-motion cameras work. This would mean that the brain takes in more information per second, making time feel stretched out. The idea is that in life-threatening situations, our sensory processing speeds up, allowing us to absorb more details in a shorter amount of time, which then gets processed as a longer duration.
Role of Memory
An alternative hypothesis is that the sensation of slow motion is actually a memory effect. During intense events, the brain lays down denser memories. When recalling the event, the abundance of detailed memories makes it seem as though the event lasted longer than it actually did. This is supported by the fact that during high-stress situations, the amygdala—the part of the brain responsible for processing emotions—becomes highly active, enhancing the encoding of memories. This would explain why time feels slower during emergencies and faster during routine activities, where fewer detailed memories are formed.
By understanding these two hypotheses, Eagleman aimed to understand whether the perceived slow motion during intense moments was due to real-time changes in sensory processing or simply a retrospective effect influenced by memory.
Experiments and Findings
Eagleman initially attempted to find a sufficiently terrifying experience to test his hypotheses using roller coasters. Despite the thrill, none of the rides induced the necessary level of fear to create the slow-motion perception he wanted to study. While participants found the rides exciting, the lack of genuine fear meant the results weren’t suitable for studying the phenomenon of time dilation during life-threatening events.
SCAD Diving Experiment
Setup: The breakthrough came with SCAD diving (Suspended Catch Air Device diving), where participants fall from a significant height into a net without any visual reference to their descent. This setup provided a genuinely frightening experience. Participants were winched 150 feet up in the air and then released into free fall, ensuring a high level of fear and adrenaline.
The Perceptual Chronometer: To measure how fast participants could process visual information during the fall, Eagleman developed a wristband device called the perceptual chronometer. This device displayed rapidly alternating numbers, and participants were tasked with identifying the numbers during their descent.
Surprisingly, no participants could read the numbers faster during the fall than they could under normal conditions. This indicated that their perception of time did not actually speed up. Instead, the perception of slow motion was likely due to the increased density of memories formed during the intense experience. Despite their subjective feeling that the fall lasted longer, the experiment demonstrated that their sensory processing speed remained constant.
These findings supported the hypothesis that the sensation of time slowing down is a memory effect rather than a real-time change in sensory processing. The denser memory encoding during high-stress situations creates the illusion of extended time when recalled later.
The Role of Memory in Time Perception
The amygdala, a region of the brain involved in emotional processing, plays a crucial role during stressful events. When faced with a life-threatening situation, the amygdala kicks into high gear, enhancing the encoding of memories. It ensures that significant details are captured, allowing the brain to store dense and vivid memories of the event. This heightened state of awareness and memory encoding is a survival mechanism, enabling individuals to recall crucial details that could help them avoid similar dangers in the future.
When recalling an event with many detailed memories, the brain interprets it as having lasted longer. This explains why intense moments feel stretched out in hindsight. The abundance of details provides a richer, more extended memory, which the brain then perceives as a longer duration. For instance, during a car accident, every detail—from the sound of tires screeching to the sight of objects in the car—gets recorded in high fidelity. This dense memory encoding makes the event seem much longer than it actually was.
Age and Time Perception
And this is where actually the anecdote from the book and this neuroscience post came together for me: time perception is very different between Adulthood and Childhood.
Childhood is filled with novel experiences that create dense memories. Each new experience feels lengthy because of the rich detail recorded. For instance, learning to ride a bike, going on a family vacation, or starting school are all significant events that form vivid memories, making those early years feel extended. By the age of eight, children have experienced a wealth of new, memorable events, leading to the subjective feeling that they have lived two-thirds of their perceived life.
In contrast, as we age, our experiences often become more routine and predictable. Daily activities such as commuting to work, performing job tasks, or even social interactions often lack the novelty that characterizes childhood experiences.
This routine nature results in fewer memorable moments, leading to the perception that time speeds up.
Without the constant influx of new, unique experiences, our brains form fewer detailed memories, compressing our subjective sense of time.
Brain’s Internal Model
The brain builds an internal model of the world based on repeated experiences. Once familiar with its environment, it records fewer details about routine events. This internal model helps us navigate the world efficiently but also means that less novelty is perceived, and fewer memories are encoded. For example, the first time you drive to a new place, the journey feels longer because you’re paying attention to the route, landmarks, and navigation.
I am sure you all have experienced the feeling that the return trip is faster than the outbound trip.
As you become familiar with the route, the drive seems shorter because it has become routine, and fewer new memories are formed during the journey.
Understanding this mechanism helps explain why older adults often feel that time is flying by. The routine nature of daily life results in fewer memorable moments, compressing the subjective perception of time.
And this is where I started thinking “ok, so what?”. And there are apparently some things you can do to keep brain developing and “slowing time down”. It has to do with novelty and change, apparently change is indeed keeping us younger (at least in this sense)!!
Tips for Extending (Perceived) Time
So while I have not found (yet) the receipt to slow down time, there are a few interesting suggestions to at least extend the perceived time. And since what’s in your mind is all that matters, this could end up being the secret sauce to extending life!
Seeking Novelty
One of the key ways to slow down the perception of time is to seek out new and varied experiences. Novelty encourages the brain to form new memories, making time feel more expansive. When we break out of our routines and encounter new stimuli, our brains work harder to process and store these experiences, leading to the formation of richer and denser memories.
Eagleman suggests several practical tips to introduce novelty into daily life:
• Driving Different Routes: Changing your commute forces your brain to process new information. Instead of going on autopilot, you’ll notice new landmarks, streets, and scenery, which can help make your day feel longer and more interesting.
• Rearranging Your Workspace: Regularly changing your environment can make everyday tasks feel new and interesting. This could be as simple as moving your desk to a different spot, swapping out decorations, or changing the layout of your office.
• Using Your Non-Dominant Hand: Performing routine tasks with your non-dominant hand can create new neural connections and enrich your experience. Whether it’s brushing your teeth or eating with your other hand, these small changes can make mundane activities feel novel.
• Learning New Skills: Whether it’s picking up a new language, learning to play a musical instrument, or trying a new sport, learning new skills challenges your brain and creates new memories.
• Traveling to Unfamiliar Places: Visiting new locations, even within your own city, can provide fresh experiences and perspectives. Exploring new cultures, foods, and environments can significantly enrich your memory landscape.
• Engaging in Creative Hobbies: Activities like painting, writing, or crafting can stimulate your brain and provide a sense of accomplishment. Creative hobbies often require focused attention and problem-solving, which are excellent for creating memorable experiences.
The goal is to make each day feel longer and more fulfilling by filling it with varied and meaningful activities.
This discussion convinced me of the importance of seeking novelty and change to keep our brains young and extend our perception of time. I have always been very keen for novelty and change, and always appreciate new things. As we get older, routine can make the years seem to fly by. But by shaking things up and embracing new experiences, we can create more memorable moments that make time feel longer and more fulfilling.
At the end of the day, it looks like change really does keep us young! And who knows, maybe next time you change your route home, you’ll not only extend your perception of time but also stumble upon your new favorite bar!
Have a fantastic weekend,
Giovanni