Sometimes, such as when you’re bored or in pain, time seems to slow down. Then when you’re in the flow of something, hours can just fly by. We all know that time seems to pass at different speeds in different situations, but one scientist believes that these variations of the perception of time are quite mild, and that our experience of time can change in a much more radical way. So, what’s the theory? (Picture: Getty)
Dr Steve Taylor, a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, and has come up with the theory of Time Expansion Experiences (TEEs). He explains that TEEs happen more frequently in accidents, such as car crashes and falls, with more than half (54%) of TEEs occur in this context. But he says TEEs can also can happen during meditation, ingesting psychedelics and playing sports (Picture: Getty)
During these experiences, Dr Taylor says TEEs can alter a period of three seconds to seem to stretch for half a minute, or even up to two minutes. But why does this happen? Writing in The Conversation, he explains that the reasons why time can speed up and slow down are a bit of a mystery. Some researchers think that mild variations in time perception are linked to information processing (Picture: Getty)
The information processing theory is where the more information taken in, the slower time seems to pass. For children, for example, time may pass slowly because of the newness of the world, whereas for adults, life may be flying by. New environments may stretch time due to their unfamiliarity. Dr Taylor explains: ‘Absorption contracts time because our attention becomes narrow, and our minds become quiet, with few thoughts passing through. In contrast, boredom stretches time because our unfocused minds fill with a massive amount of thought-chatter’ (Picture: Getty)
Dr Taylor explained why TEEs often happen during emergencies. He cites that in one example, a woman who reported a TEE during which she avoided a metal barrier falling onto her car told him that a ‘slowing down of the moment’ allowed her to ‘decide how to escape the falling metal on us’. The phenomenon is also apparent in sport. Dr Taylor explains that another person told him about a TEE that occurred when playing ice hockey, when ‘the play which seemed to last for about ten minutes all occurred in the space of about eight seconds’ (Picture: Getty)
Dr Taylor said that some of the leading theories behind these time altering states don’t grasp the entire experiences. One theory suggests these moments are the result of the release of noradrenaline, which is essentially the body’s fight or flight mechanism. However, this theory doesn’t explain the mental time dilation of people during moments of intense meditation or concentration. Another suggestion is that TEEs happen due to an evolutionary hack for surviving intense situations, but that still doesn’t explain how they occur outside of a life-or-death event (Picture: Getty)
In a third theory, Dr Taylor writes: ‘TEEs aren’t real experiences, but illusions of recollection. In emergency situations, so this theory goes, our awareness becomes acute, so that we take in more perceptions than normal. These perceptions become encoded in our memories, so that when we recall the emergency situation, the extra memories create the impression that time passed slowly’. But people who have experienced TEEs say that they were able to process thoughts and information much faster than what would be possible under normal circumstances. So Dr Taylor suggests that these events shift the human mind into an altered state of consciousness. In these moments, we step outside our normal consciousness into what Taylor calls a different ‘time-world’ (Picture: Getty)
He wrote: ‘The sudden shock of an accident may disrupt our normal psychological processes, causing an abrupt shift in consciousness….Altered states of consciousness can also affect our sense of identity, and our normal sense of separation between us and the world…One of the main features of intense altered states is that sense of separation fades. We no longer feel enclosed inside our minds, but feel connected to our surroundings. This means the boundary between us and the world softens. And in the process, our sense of time expands. We slip outside our normal consciousness, and into a different time-world’ (Picture: Getty)
News Updates
Stay on top of the headlines with daily email updates.
