Why sometimes it seems to us that time flies by unnoticed?

No person is born with a "built-in" internal clock. Children learn to follow the times thanks to their parents, the daily routine, the school. Sometimes the habit of synchronizing one's behavior with the rest of the world is worked out for months, sometimes it takes several years. In the end, we all adapt. And now the standard time units become our faithful companions. This system is ideal: minutes flock to hours, hours to week days, week days to months and years. But there is a big difference in how we perceive the passage of time.

Can time move at different speeds?

Sometimes it seems to us that time flies, like a jet plane, and sometimes that it moves at the speed of a turtle. Suddenly, it is realized that the next January has come, but now it is almost over. It seems that the older we become, the faster the years change. On the other hand, you stand on the pedestrian crossing to the red light and can not wait for these long 90 seconds to expire. It's like an eternity separates you from going to the other side of the road.

The study of the perception of the passage of time

Scientists have always been interested in this problem. Why do the short periods of time seem to us infinitely long, and long replace each other at breakneck speed? Some of them devote most of their lives to the study of the matter. Let's try to figure out the reason for this distortion.

The main conditions under which there is a slowdown in time

If you collect the numerous stories of different people together, you can track that the circumstances of all are different. But all of them entailed a feeling of slowly crawling arrows on the dial. Conditionally experts divided all these conditions into six main categories: severe suffering (danger), intense pleasures, anticipation (boredom), altered state of consciousness with medications, meditation and novelty. Below we give several illustrative examples.

Intensity of sensations and permanent boredom

Violence and danger are identified in a separate category because of the intensity of mental and physical sensations. For example, a wounded soldier lying on the battlefield will always feel that help will never come. Also, the military often describe that the battle itself is seen by them, as if in a slow-motion filming mode. But sometimes strong experiences can be associated with pleasure and ecstasy (here time really gives us the opportunity to enjoy the moment.) In a separate category, the state of permanent boredom is highlighted: turn to see a doctor, arrest for 15 days, a seller without an influx of clients. On the one hand, these situations are sharply limited in time, but when a person is placed in waiting conditions, it seems to him that the hands on the dial do not move at all.

Based on the altered state of consciousness or novelty

People often observe the distortion of perception of time when they experience an altered state of consciousness. This is facilitated by the drug-induced experience of taking LSD or mescaline. High levels of concentration or meditation can also affect the subjective perception of the passage of time. This is often told by athletes who are in the waiting zone. Finally, there is a shock or a novelty. This happens every time you start learning some complicated skills or are on vacation in an exotic location.

What is the paradox?

In all these categories there is a clear pattern. They all distort time at a time when almost nothing happens to the observer, or too much is happening. But you will never feel it in your usual activities. In other words, time slows down when the situation can be assessed as too easy or too complicated.

As for the dial or calendar, each time block has its own standards. They are no different from each other. Each minute consists of 60 seconds, and the day - from 24 hours. Standard time units acquire a significant difference if they begin to be perceived from the point of view of the "density of human experience". Thus, the perception can be influenced by objective and subjective information.

High density of experience

The density of experience is high, when in a short period of time a lot happens. Veterans of military operations know about this not by hearsay. On the other hand, the density of the experiment can be equally high, and when almost an hour after hour almost nothing happens. This will be told to you by people who are in solitary confinement. It would seem that this time is completely empty, but people with a stable psyche are able to completely change the worldview, and those with a weaker nervous system go crazy with obsession. All these circumstances place people in unusual conditions. The paradox is that people tend to focus their attention on strange circumstances, which only strengthen the density of experience, which affects the perception of a standard time unit. Thus, distortion is formed.

When time passes unnoticed

We found out that time moves slowly when the density of the experiment is extremely high. It is logical to assume the opposite. Time will pass unnoticed when the density of the experiment, referring to the standard time block, is abnormally low. When you have a habit of looking back (to the near or distant past), life periods seem to shrink. Time compression provides two general conditions. Let us consider them in detail.

Routine tasks

Adults in the workplace are surrounded by many daily duties. All of them are repeated from day to day with only minor changes. But the fulfillment of each of them requires increased attention and concentration. The period of familiarization and training has already passed, now many of the standard tasks and instructions you can perform without focusing on them. This will be told to you by experienced motorists, who simultaneously perform several actions. This will tell you a person who has a busy day at work. Despite the general workload, there was not a high density of unique experience.

In the end, the loaded employee was pleasantly surprised when the time in the office flew so quickly. With a clear conscience, he goes home the usual route. And along the way, he will do all his usual business: call his relatives, go to the nearest supermarket for bread. In the evening there will be a usual dinner and a usual serial. Each day looks like another. That's why they succeed each other so quickly.

"Erosion" of episodic memory

The second basic condition for rapid flow of time is the "erosion" of episodic memory. And this also applies to each of us. Our memories of routine events disappear with time. Can you remember what you did on December 17? If there were no significant events on this day, you probably will not remember the whole chain. But in fact from this moment has passed hardly more month! And the memory is already trying to clear the place for more information.

And the further back you look, the more "forgetfulness" you show. One of the scientific studies revealed an amazing regularity: people thought that last year flew unnoticed than last month, and last month faster than yesterday. Objectively this does not make sense, but our memory corrodes the density of the experience within the standard time unit.

conclusions

All the situations that we described above can be considered anomalous. Usually, under normal conditions, we take 10 minutes as 10 minutes. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we have learned to synchronize our experience with standard time units, and vice versa.