Why Time Doesn’t Matter Anymore, According to Science
Over the past few weeks, time has lost all meaning. The days seem like weeks. The weeks seem like months. While technically it’s only been a couple of weeks since the World Health Organization declared this a pandemic , many of us feel like it’s been going on for years.
As it turns out, this time distortion has an explanation based on how our brains record memories during times of intense fear and stress. The most famous experiment demonstrating this effect was conducted by neuroscientist David Eagleman, neuroscientist , writer and writer / director of the PBS TV series The Brain with David Eagleman.
As Eagleman explains in the first episode of his PBS series, to answer the question of whether our perception of time slows down when we’re afraid, he devised an experiment in which volunteers jumped off a 150-foot platform. As they fell, he made them look at a digital display strapped to their wrists, flashing numbers that changed at a rate that was too fast for human comprehension.
The theory was that if their perception of time really slowed down, they could read numbers. But they failed, which suggests that our perception of time does not change in moments of extreme fear.
Instead, the answer seems to lie in how our brain records memories at this time and how we recall those memories. When we are afraid, our brains get the most out of it, focused on noticing every tiny detail to keep us alive.
As Eagleman explains in thisvideo , “People don’t really see time in slow motion during an event.” Instead, when you are in a life-threatening moment, your brain records the memory in much more detail. Then, when you recall that memory, your brain confuses all these additional details and makes you think that this event lasted longer than it actually did.
Right now, in the COVID-19 era, we are all on high alert. All our collective attention is focused on one thing and only one thing: maintaining the health of ourselves and our loved ones. This means watching the news for updates, and raising awareness of everything and everything we do that can spread the disease. We’ve all focused on hand washing techniques, tracking our own health for possible illnesses, and tracking new data on new cases.
So, how do you feel that time has entered a distorted new reality? It turns out that this is your brain, which does what it is supposed to, in times of fear and uncertainty.