Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception

Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception by Claudia Hammond

How good are we at perceiving time? Why does time seem to slow to a crawl at some instances, while it sprints at other times? When young, time seems to pass slowly. Though when older, it seemed to go by faster. (This may naively seem to be based on "percentage of life", but that doesn't pan out.) When we are having fun, time goes by quickly. When we are bored, time is slow. A stressful life-or-death incident may appear to last much longer than the actual clock time. Estimating time can be a difficult challenge. Sometimes we can do a good job. However, without external cues it can become more and more challenging to estimate how long has passed. Time is viewed differently in different languages. In English, "before" is usually to the left. In other languages and cultures it differs. There are people that view time "visually". Some people see time as something that flows, while others see themselves moving through time. You can spend a lot of time analyzing how time is perceived.