Scientists Says We Perceive Time Between Reality And Personal Expectations
- 8 years ago
A team of researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Sussex has determined that humans don’t always perceive time as it actually occurs.
A team of researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Sussex has determined that humans don’t always perceive time as it actually occurs.
Assessments of its passage appear to be a combination of expectations and reality.
The study involved exposing participants to visual and audio sequences of flashes and beeps.
When the cues were given in equally timed intervals, the subjects were able to accurately perceive the stretch of time between the appearances.
In test runs where the final stimulus was either delayed or rushed, participants reported experiencing either longer or shorter time periods than had actually occurred.
One of the study’s authors explained, “Our brain relies on past events to predict what will happen next. These predictions…allow us to react faster… and plan what actions to perform. Our perceptions are also affected by these predictions; they are the result of the combination of our expectations and actual sensory information.”
A team of researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Sussex has determined that humans don’t always perceive time as it actually occurs.
Assessments of its passage appear to be a combination of expectations and reality.
The study involved exposing participants to visual and audio sequences of flashes and beeps.
When the cues were given in equally timed intervals, the subjects were able to accurately perceive the stretch of time between the appearances.
In test runs where the final stimulus was either delayed or rushed, participants reported experiencing either longer or shorter time periods than had actually occurred.
One of the study’s authors explained, “Our brain relies on past events to predict what will happen next. These predictions…allow us to react faster… and plan what actions to perform. Our perceptions are also affected by these predictions; they are the result of the combination of our expectations and actual sensory information.”