Time perception is the subjective experience of the passage of time, and is a fundamental feature of the human experience of the world. It has been studied across a variety of disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. This review article will discuss the current literature on time perception, with particular attention to the effects of cognitive factors on the experience of time.
The experience of time is influenced by a variety of cognitive and physiological processes. For instance, attentional processes play a major role in our perception of time (Vallar, 2012). Attention is typically a resource-limited process, meaning that when we focus our attention on one event or stimuli, we are less able to attend to other events or stimuli. This has a direct effect on our perception of time, as our attentional resources are used up when attending to a particular event or stimuli, resulting in a slowed perception of time passing. Similarly, emotional states can also influence our experience of time. For instance, in situations of stress or fear, time often seems to move more slowly (Gibbon, 1977). This is likely due to the increased attentional resources devoted to the stressful situation, resulting in a slowed perception of time passing.
The brain is also an important factor in our perception of time. Neuroimaging studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex are important for processing temporal information (Ivry & Hazeltine, 1995). In particular, the prefrontal cortex is thought to be involved in estimating the passage of time, while the parietal cortex is involved in tracking the temporal relationships between events. Neuroimaging studies have also shown that the cerebellum is important for temporal processing, and is thought to be involved in the perception of temporal regularity (Ivry & Hazeltine, 1995).
In addition to the physiological factors that influence our perception of time, there are also cognitive factors that play a role. Memory has been found to be an important factor in our experience of time (Wearden, 1998). For instance, when events are remembered as occurring in a certain order, time is often perceived to have passed more quickly. Similarly, when events are remembered as occurring in an unpredictable order, time is often experienced as passing more slowly. This suggests that our perception of time is in part influenced by our memory of the temporal relationships between events.
Finally, our perception of time can also be influenced by our expectations of when an event will occur. For instance, when an event is expected to occur at a certain time, time is often experienced as passing more quickly than when the event is unexpected (Kirkpatrick, 2020). This suggests that our perception of time is influenced by our expectations of when events will occur.
In conclusion, time perception is a complex phenomenon that is influenced by a variety of cognitive and physiological factors. Attentional processes, emotional states, brain structures, memory, and expectations all play an important role in our experience of time. Understanding how these factors interact to influence our perception of time is an important area of research, and will provide valuable insights into the human experience of the world.
References
Gibbon, J. (1977). Scalar expectancy theory and Weber’s law in animal timing. Psychological review, 84(2), 279.
Ivry, R. B., & Hazeltine, E. (1995). Perception and production of temporal intervals across a range of durations: Evidence for a common timing mechanism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21(2), 3-18.
Kirkpatrick, M. (2020). Expectation and temporal perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(6), 882-897.
Vallar, G. (2012). Attention and temporal experience. In The neuropsychology of time (pp. 31-47). Psychology Press.
Wearden, J. H. (1998). Memory and the experience of time. Memory, 6(6), 629-647.