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The Neuroscience of Time. How We Perceive, Play With, and Slow It… | by Kenneth Sippel | Sep, 2024

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How We Perceive, Play With, and Slow It Down

Time is a slippery concept. Sometimes, an hour drags on forever, and other times, entire days vanish in a blur. But what if you could manipulate your perception of time, stretch it out like taffy, and make each moment feel longer and fuller without changing how much you accomplish? Imagine feeling as though the world around you is moving at its usual breakneck speed while you’re moving at your own, deliberate pace — in perfect harmony with the environment, but on your terms.

It’s not just a fantastical idea. In fact, this sensation of controlling time is rooted in very real neurological processes that regulate how we experience the flow of moments.

At the core of this experience lies attention. The more attention you devote to each passing moment, the longer it seems to last. This is why childhood summers felt endless — everything was new, requiring our full focus. Now, as adults, we fall into routines where time slips away unnoticed.

When you’re able to harness your attention, you may enter what is commonly called a flow state, where you are so deeply immersed in an activity that time seems to dilate. The tasks at hand become effortless, and you accomplish more than you thought possible, all while time slows in your perception. But how is this possible?

The answer begins in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for decision-making, self-control, and, crucially, the perception of time. In a flow state, this region optimizes its functioning. It filters out irrelevant distractions and tunes into the present task with laser-like focus. Your brain isn’t wasting energy tracking the passage of time; it’s too busy being absorbed in the now.

By fully committing your attention to a task, you create a psychological effect that stretches the passage of time. Minutes feel like hours — not in a painful, dragging sense, but in a satisfying fullness. You become the master of your moments, even as the clock ticks at its usual pace.

Another key aspect of manipulating time lies in sensory awareness. When you’re acutely tuned in to your environment — truly listening to the sounds around you, noticing subtle details in your surroundings, or even paying attention to the feel of your breath — time seems to expand. This is because your sensory cortex and thalamus, which process incoming sensory data, are feeding your brain a much richer stream of information. Each second becomes packed with detail, giving you the impression that time is slowing down.

This is what happens during mindfulness practices. When you intentionally engage with the present, you disrupt the brain’s autopilot mode, forcing it to soak in each sensation. It’s the difference between passively scrolling through your phone and actively taking a walk in the park, noticing the rustle of leaves or the warmth of sunlight. One slips by in minutes; the other feels like an hour-long immersion.

Then there’s dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good” neurotransmitter. Beyond its role in pleasure and reward, dopamine is a powerful player in time perception. High dopamine levels make us more alert and focused, expanding our sense of time because we’re fully engaged in the moment. Conversely, low dopamine states often correlate with the sensation that time is racing by, as we rush through tasks with little engagement or enthusiasm.

But here’s where things get interesting. In the modern world, it might seem like all the social media, sugary foods, and constant digital stimulation are keeping us in a state of high dopamine. In reality, they’re doing the opposite. Social media and junk food cause dopamine to spike briefly, only to crash soon after. These spikes are intense but short-lived, followed by long periods of low dopamine. When dopamine is low, we feel bored, distracted, and restless, making time seem like it’s flying by, as we’re constantly seeking another spike to re-engage.

Instead of keeping us stimulated and present, these dopamine crashes make the day blur together, punctuated by short bursts of pleasure. This cycle leaves us craving more, as we jump from one fleeting hit of dopamine to the next. The constant seeking of new highs accelerates our sense of time slipping away.

In contrast, sustained dopamine — the kind that comes from deep focus, meaningful work, or mindful activities — keeps us in the present moment, allowing time to stretch and feel richer. By stabilizing your dopamine levels with intentional focus, you can slow time down and live more fully in each moment.

Lastly, we have the default mode network (DMN) — a network of brain regions that activate when we’re not focused on any particular task. This is the part of the brain that kicks in when we daydream, get distracted, or mind-wander. The DMN has its uses, but when it’s active, time tends to slip away unnoticed because we’re not present in the moment.

When you feel like you’re playing with time, making the hours feel longer, you’re likely suppressing the DMN. In its place, task-positive networks become dominant, sharpening your focus and anchoring you to the present. The result? Time expands because your brain is no longer jumping between thoughts; it’s fully here, with you.

This sensation of time stretching out can be especially pronounced when using substances like cannabis. When you’re high, for example, your perception of time slows dramatically. This occurs because THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, alters how the brain encodes time intervals. It disrupts the usual processes, making it seem like seconds are stretching into minutes. The brain becomes hyper-aware, more present to each detail, and less able to integrate the passing moments into larger chunks, giving you that feeling of slowed time.

While drugs like cannabis offer a temporary and artificial form of time dilation, it’s possible to achieve similar effects through mindfulness and intentional focus without altering your brain chemistry.

If the key to slowing time down is controlling your attention, then learning to harness your attention becomes essential. Here’s how you can practice this:

  1. Deliberate Focus: Start small. When you are working on something, whether it’s reading, exercising, or even having a conversation, focus entirely on that task. Set aside distractions and allow yourself to fully engage. The more consistently you can stay with the task, the longer time will feel.
  2. Mindfulness Training: Practice mindfulness, whether through meditation or simple daily activities. Pay attention to your surroundings, your body, and your thoughts. This can train your brain to live in the present, making each moment feel richer and longer.
  3. Limit Multitasking: Avoid trying to do many things at once. Multitasking fragments your attention and accelerates the feeling of time slipping by. Focusing on one thing at a time lets you stretch out the experience.
  4. Engage in Novelty: New and unfamiliar experiences can slow time down because your brain has to process more information. Try breaking routines or introducing small changes to your day to help expand your perception of time.

By mastering your attention, you can transform the way you experience time. With practice, it becomes possible to create an environment where, even though the hours on the clock move the same for everyone else, your perception of them stretches, deepens, and ultimately, allows you to live more fully in each one.

So, what’s really happening when you feel like you’re playing with time, slowing it down, and getting more out of every hour?

Your brain is working in harmony across several regions: your prefrontal cortex focuses your attention, your sensory cortex heightens your awareness of the present, dopamine fuels your engagement, and the default mode network is quieted. Together, they create a seamless experience of time expansion. You may not be literally changing the pace of time, but you are altering your brain’s perception of it — stretching out each moment to make it feel richer, longer, and more fulfilling.

By learning to control these processes, you can harness this power whenever you need it, turning ordinary hours into extraordinary ones and transforming how you move through the world.

Disclaimer: If you made it to the end, I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I hope it sparked some thoughts or gave you a new perspective. Just to be clear, I’m not a scientist or a doctor — just a guy who loves asking questions and trying to find answers through books, writing, and exploring ideas with the help of AI.



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