link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-qIg_ztKGA
Depending on the speed of your processor the video may be very jumpy, because I had to compress it from a 4 gig file.
Also, when you are commenting please don’t comment on the fact that my voice isn’t very engaging. I know about the problem and I’m working on it. If you want to give advice thats fine.
Bibliography
Digth, Eileen. “How do you view time?.” How do you view time?. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jun 2011.
Drew”Time Perception: How The Brain Controls Time.” 4mind4life : Good Health Tips. 4mind4life : Good Health Tips, 24 Jul 2008. Web. 14 Jun 2011.
Karamete, M. “The Perception of Time.” n. pag. Islamcity. Web. 15 Jun 2011.
Le Poidevin, Robin. “The Experience and Perception of Time.” Stanford Enclyclopedia of Philosophy 28 Aug 2000, Revision 17 Nov 2009. n. pag. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 13 Jun 2011.
“perception of time.” Youtube. Web. 14 Jun 2011.
7 Responses to “TED Talk – The Perception of Time”
This is a very intriguing topic! I like how you logically come to a conclusion. Also I like how your thoughts are well organized into a flow chart. It is also helpful to give real world examples of this and lab results. On another note I would suggest that you provide more information on what parts of the brain are deactivated/activated with different perceptions of time. Also I’m probably not the only one with this question but I’ll be the one to voice it. What happens to our perception of time when we fall asleep? At first I thought that we perceived less time, but then again what if we just forget that time passed at all? Cool stuff!
-Derek
Great job, Toren,
I love how you jump right into answering the common questions and assumptions about the concept of time. You say “time does NOT actually fly when you are having fun. It flies when there is nothing to remember.” At first, this didn’t make sense. But then, you went onto explain it very well.
I wonder if one of the reasons why we remember moments of being bored is because we are consciously thinking about time, and reflecting on the moment. When you reflect on your emotions in a specific moment, I think that is an extremely important cause of remembering a memory.
You gave me a lot to think about, and I love how you’ve covered all aspects of a hypotheses. Your information is very interesting and of very high quality. Nice job!
Interesting TED Talk, but while watching I couldn’t stop thinking about how the video made your skin seem really pale, and you eyes seem really dark ( it made you look like an alien). Any way, other than turning down the exposure a bit, it was great. Your slides were easy to read and well organized.
The only question I have is about your repeated statement that time does not fly when you are having fun. Most of the time when one is enjoying oneself, the brain is active and you have a “large scope of attention”. When you do not enjoy something for whatever reason, your mind will try to avoid it. This usually leads to starring at a point on the wall, giving you a “small scope of attention”. So according to everything you said, would this not indicate that time flies when your having fun?
@Derek.
I think when we fall asleep we don’t need any of the memories (survival wise)so we don’t keep any of them. That’s why dreams are so hard to remember. Also, I’ve been told that we only have a few seconds of dream for the entire night, so that would explain why the period seems so short.
@Iris
I thought about that for a long time while I was researching. I had hypothesized then, that we formed memories when we were actively thinking about the time or time passing. It made some sense because when time seems to be passing quickly there is usually a longer break between your glances at the clock, while when you’re really bored or waiting for something to end you can’t think of anything else. It made a lot of sense, but left many things unexplained and I didn’t find anything about it on the internet.
@Jen S
If I turn down the exposure the screen gets really hard to read.
To correct you I think when we are not enjoying something I don’t think we try to avoid it and stare at the wall, I think we put all of our focus into it. Same end though, with us having very focused scopes of attention.
Still the first rule of time fluctuation (the one for memories and having nothing to remember and all that) doesn’t have anything to do with fun and can contradict the second one (with the scopes of attention). For instance you can have a very long pleasant day. I can’t think of many specific examples but you can probably remember some times.Some times good events can stretch on, no matter how much fun you’re having.
Thank you all for the excellent comments.
I feel like I’ve sat here for half an hour trying to come up with a good comment.. and then I look over, and it’s only been 10 minutes.
I like how you devised your own theory on why time fluctuates, and how you found information to support it. Although, could it be possible that time seems like it flies because we have too much information to remember? Perhaps time seems slower when we stare at a wall because it’s literally impossible to forget what happened during each minute; you see a wall. On the other hand, when you do something crazy and fun, so much stuff happens that you can’t take it all in. For example, when I have a swimming race, I can barely remember anything during the race: how I started, who passed me, who I passed; I can’t remember any of it. Yet I know that during the race, there was a whole lot of stuff going on. Maybe that’s why time flies?
Hi Toren! Your TED talk was actually quite interesting, and actually did a great job of explaining some questions I’ve had for a long time now.
So, to connect the beginning to the end a bit, and getting a little off topic, the less things to focus on there are, the more memory the brain stores?
Overall, a pretty great TED talk, that really interested me.
-Clay
That…is very, very cool. VERY COOL INDEED, SIR.
Your presentation was actually pretty good, aside form the whole alien thing.
This is a bit of a random question, but: When you remember things, as long or short, how do you remember them exactly? As in, do you remember an event like a movie clip, or a series of snapshots, which you put together?
…I’m sure you answered that, and I’m just not being very clever. But. Anyways. That was really mind-blowing. Nice job.