How we perceive the passage of time?

What is time? This question is not easy to answer, nor is it easy to answer: how do we perceive the passage of time? To try to answer this last question from psychology we will base ourselves on biological rhythms.one of the fields of research in the psychology of time.

According to studies of biological rhythms, we can consider that In our brain there are different clocks. Each of these clocks has a different rhythm and is specialized in measuring a specific duration range. They, along with other factors such as memory and attention, are what will determine how we perceive the passage of time.

The passage of time according to biological rhythms

One of the clocks of biological rhythms is the circadian clock. This clock is tuned to measure the hours of the day. The location of this clock is found in the hypothalamus and is responsible for controlling wake and sleep schedules, and eating. When we take long trips, this clock goes out of adjustment, this is what we call “jet lag”.

Our brain also has a cognitive clock capable of perceiving milliseconds. This watch is very precise and, among other things, is used to perceive speech correctly. It can distinguish between two phonemes that differ by a very small duration. In addition, it is important when listening to music to perceive the rhythm and to control our movements.

Finally, Another cognitive clock is the one that allows measuring durations between seconds and minutes. and it is the one that is responsible for the conscious experience of the passage of time. This watch has a positive part and a negative part. The positive part is that it can be started whenever we want, we can make time measurements with great precision at will. On the other hand, there are many factors that can alter the mentions of this watch relatively easily.

Processes involved in the perception of the passage of time

The interpretation of the perception of time that we can obtain from this last cognitive clock is a complex phenomenon. The perception of time is determined by different factors such as memory and attention.. How we perceive the passage of time will depend on them in particular.

First of all, To perceive time we use memory. According to Bertrand Russell, “When we look at the watch, we can see the second hand move, but only memory tells us that the minute and hour hands have moved.” Therefore, to perceive time we use spatial representations. We rely on our memory to perceive the passage of time, which we see when we try to figure out a date in the past and turn to events we remember to find out how much time passed.

Secondly, when we are bored, sick or waiting for someone to call us, we perceive that time passes very slowly. However, as the phrase “time flies when you are having a good time” indicates, this does not always happen. On other occasions we perceive that time happens faster. This is due to attention. When we do an absorbing activity that occupies all of our attention, time passes quickly.but when we focus our attention on the passage of time, it passes slowly.

On the other hand, these perceptions of time are also accompanied by emotions. Thus, when we perceive that we will not have time to do something, we feel negative emotions such as anxiety and stress. But not only the perception of time influences emotions. Emotions can also distort the perception of timeFor example, strong emotions make time pass more slowly. By the way, if you have had the feeling that the time reading this article has passed quickly, it will be because you have not found it very boring.

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