5 replies to this topic

[InquilineKea]

"It has been shown, however, that perception of time as in clapping or counting accelerates or decelerates with the rise and fall of body temperature"

From Britannica
==

http://www.questia.c...?docId=79251392

==
So some investigators have found some association between high body temperatures and decelerated perception of time (i.e. time passes slower when you have a fever). This MIGHT extend to low body temperatures but I'm not quite sure. The research seems to have only been done on a few human subjects so it could be very well be erroneous but on the other hand it isn't entirely implausible (since decreased metabolism may make it slightly harder for your brain to maintain a metabolism high enough to "perceive" a greater number of individual "instants"). The other issue though is that time SEEMS to pass faster as you grow older (perhaps due to age-related decline in dopamine and other chemicals) and that calorie restriction COULD slow that decline down and so time will eventually pass slower for us when we're older or something.

What I want MOST is *maximum* perceived time out of life (whether it comes through calorie restriction, reducing sleep, or by making time pass slower). But as I'm a student, my immediate priorities are to try to make time pass slower, however I can do this [I've read conflicting accounts of amphetamines being able to do this but I don't know anyone that I can acquire amphetamines off of so I have to try other approaches]

Edited by inquilinekea, 13 March 2008 - 09:45 PM.

[FunkOdyssey]

Time perception... this is a really interesting angle on "living longer" that I've never thought of before. Time does seem to be flying faster than ever before in my life. I don't have anything useful to contribute right now aside from confirming that you are asking a good question.

[Time Traveller]

It is well known that increasing temperature can speed up chemical reactions.
Maybe the perception of how quickly time is passing is dependent on the speed of certain thought processes in the observer.
The slower the thought processes, the faster the perceived passage of time, and vice versa.
Interestingly, the two drugs ethanol and cannabis seem to have complementary time distortional effects, the former apparently accelerating the passage of time, and the latter slowing it down. I wonder whether one has a depressive effect on certain parts of the brain, while the other acts as a stimulant.
Try giving up everything in your life from which you derive enjoyment. You won't live any longer, but it will seem like it.

Edited by Time Traveller, 13 March 2008 - 10:28 PM.

[yoyo]

Bad news for the CR crew.

I think the 'time goes faster when you're older' is that unlike in youth when new experiences are forced on you just because you were born yesterday, hwen you're old you have to actively seek out new experiences.

[InquilineKea]

I think the 'time goes faster when you're older' is that unlike in youth when new experiences are forced on you just because you were born yesterday, hwen you're old you have to actively seek out new experiences.

That definitely contributes to the perception. But it's definitely possible (and there is some data to support) the hypothesis that time genuinely passes faster as you grow older.

How does it feel like to emerge from a coma...? It's not as if you "instantly" pass from before the coma to after it..

[mentatpsi]

i had a presenter come to a recent class i took regarding time perception and amphetamines (cocaine) on rats... it was really interesting... i'll try to find it since it is no longer available through the class' website...

If you look at yourself... you as a human are quite capable of judging elapsed time, though as elapsed time increases so too does the level of error. This is with most (if not all) animals i believe.

The experiment was basically about how rats/mice (can't recall which) who were conditioned to press a lever at a certain time to get food (or stop a bothersome buzzing noise) would be administered cocaine and its impact on their timing. The time at which they pressed the lever greatly changed as they were administered cocaine, clearly demonstrating that amphetamines (cocaine in particular) have an effect on time perception. Though upon retrospect, amphetamines due increase habitual reward behavior so it's possible to say it wasn't exactly influencing perceived time, but i don't have the information at hand to conclude anything accurately. Regardless, I believe they pressed the lever more erratically. They also placed certain measurement units within their brains to see which particular areas of the brains were activated or what not.

I had noticed for myself that meditation and calmness highly impacts perception of time... aiming for that "being in the moment". I'm sure this has something to do with EEGs. Gamma, for instance, was shown in an experiment to be more present within Buddhist monks during their peak in meditation who had practiced this form of meditation (loving-kindness meditation) for around a year than a control group.

Perhaps if we can have some type of deep brain pace maker unit we can alter the flow of perceived time and live within the seconds and make them each count .

Edited by mysticpsi, 29 March 2008 - 09:15 PM.