Perception of Time

[eric nielsen]

Family member showed me this link - it's more detail on an experiment featured on TV a couple years ago:

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136495499/incognito-whats-hiding-in-the-unconscious-mind

If you're interested in the author's qualifications: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Eagleman

You can click to listen to the NPR interview, or here is the transcript: http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=136495499

I happen to agree with Dr. Eagleman for just about the entire interview. In my experience, especially with mental health patients, I would suggest that the *ordinary, average* perception of time is something that slowly forms over years in a person, reaching its final form in ADULTS. If you're curious, you can look up the Neural Pruning theory of brain development - it's pretty interesting and does a lot to explain the age of onset for several mental health disorders, as well as how children understand concepts for the first time, and at what age.

If you have an open mind when looking at the "wrong" or "unreliable" perceptions of time displayed by dogs, children, schizophrenic persons, and average adults when stressed, and compare to the agreed-on perception of time, you'll see there isn't one set reality. It's an adaptation.

[benos]

Thanks for the interesting post and links Eric.

... as well as how children understand concepts for the first time, and at what age.

It was interesting, watching a couple of friend's kids "learn" the concept of time, as they slowly learned to grasp what "tomorrow" meant.

be