Time perception

The study of time perception or chronoception is a field within psychology, cognitive linguistics^[1] and neuroscience that refers to the subjective experience, or sense, of time, which is measured by someone's own perception of the duration of the indefinite and unfolding of events.^[2]^[3]^[4] The perceived time interval between two successive events is referred to as perceived duration. Though directly experiencing or understanding another person's perception of time is not possible, perception can be objectively studied and inferred through a number of scientific experiments. Some temporal illusions help to expose the underlying neural mechanisms of time perception.

The ancient Greeks recognized the difference between chronological time (chronos) and subjective time (kairos).

Pioneering work on time perception, emphasizing species-specific differences, was conducted by Karl Ernst von Baer.^[5]

Sub-second timing or millisecond timing

Interval timing or seconds-to-minutes timing

Circadian timing

Time perception is typically categorized in three distinct ranges, because different ranges of duration are processed in different areas of the brain:^[6]

There are many theories and computational models for time perception mechanisms in the brain. William J. Friedman (1993) contrasted two theories of the sense of time:^[7]^[8]^[9]

Another hypothesis involves the brain's subconscious tallying of "pulses" during a specific interval, forming a biological stopwatch. This theory proposes that the brain can run multiple biological stopwatches independently depending on the type of tasks being tracked. The source and nature of the pulses is unclear.^[10] They are as yet a metaphor whose correspondence to brain anatomy or physiology is unknown.^[11]

estimating time intervals, e.g., "When did you last see your primary care physician?";

estimating time duration, e.g., "How long were you waiting at the doctor's office?"; and

judging the simultaneity of events (see below for examples).

Physiological associations[edit]

Tachypsychia[edit]

Tachypsychia is a neurological condition that alters the perception of time, usually induced by physical exertion, drug use, or a traumatic event. For someone affected by tachypsychia, time perceived by the individual either lengthens, making events appear to slow down,^[84] or contracts, with objects appearing as moving in a speeding blur.^[85]^[86]

Time

Arrow of time

Time dilation

Déjà vu

Dyschronometria

Benjamin Libet

Temporal resolution

(Wikiversity)

Time perspective

Time perception research at the University of Manchester

Time Sense: Polychronicity and Monochronicity

Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine

"A Cognitive Model of Retrospective Duration Estimations", Hee-Kyung Ahn, et al., March 7, 2006.

"Time, Force, Motion, and the Semantics of Natural Languages", Wolfgang Wildgen, Antwerp Papers in Linguistics, 2003/2004.

Can Time Slow Down?

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