An exercise in time perception - Matt Danzico
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0:14 - 0:16Hello, humans.
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0:16 - 0:18My name is Matt
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0:18 - 0:19and for the next several moments,
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0:19 - 0:22you are going to listen to me.
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0:22 - 0:25Mwah, ha, ha, ha, ha.
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0:25 - 0:27Sorry. I'm just joking.
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0:29 - 0:32This is my normal voice.
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0:32 - 0:33Have you ever taken direction
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0:33 - 0:36from a mysterious voice on the computer before?
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0:36 - 0:38No? Perfect!
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0:38 - 0:40I want to try an experiment with you,
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0:40 - 0:42but I can't tell you what that experiment entails
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0:42 - 0:43because if I do,
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0:43 - 0:45it won't work.
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0:45 - 0:47You'll just have to trust me.
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0:47 - 0:49This will all make sense soon,
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0:49 - 0:50hopefully.
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0:50 - 0:52If you're sitting down,
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0:52 - 0:54stand up from your chair and take a step back.
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0:54 - 0:57In a moment, I'm going to have you twirl around,
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0:57 - 0:59so give yourself a bit of space.
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0:59 - 1:01Need to move some furniture around?
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1:01 - 1:02Take your time.
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1:02 - 1:03I'll wait.
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1:05 - 1:06On the count of three,
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1:06 - 1:08you're going to start hopping on one foot.
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1:08 - 1:10Are you ready?
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1:10 - 1:11One,
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1:11 - 1:13two,
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1:13 - 1:14three!
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1:14 - 1:15Hop,
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1:15 - 1:16hop,
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1:16 - 1:16hop,
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1:16 - 1:18hop,
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1:18 - 1:19hop.
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1:19 - 1:20Nice work!
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1:20 - 1:22OK, while you're still hopping,
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1:22 - 1:25I now want you to begin barking like a dog.
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1:25 - 1:26Ruff, ruff;
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1:26 - 1:28ruff, ruff;
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1:28 - 1:30ruff, ruff.
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1:30 - 1:32Wow, that's quite a bark!
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1:32 - 1:33And a few more.
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1:33 - 1:36Ruff, ruff, ruff.
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1:36 - 1:37And three,
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1:37 - 1:38two,
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1:38 - 1:39one,
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1:39 - 1:40stop!
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1:40 - 1:43Feel free to relax and sit back down.
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1:43 - 1:45Now, I want you think about how much time passed
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1:45 - 1:47between the moment I said, "Go!"
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1:47 - 1:49and you began hopping on one foot
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1:49 - 1:50to the moment I said, "Stop!"
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1:50 - 1:52Take a guess.
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1:52 - 1:56I'm looking for an exact number of seconds or minutes.
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1:56 - 1:58Now, with a pen and paper, write that number down.
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2:00 - 2:01All done?
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2:01 - 2:05The exact time was actually 26 seconds.
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2:05 - 2:06Did you overestimate?
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2:06 - 2:08Chances are that you did.
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2:08 - 2:10So, what was the culprit?
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2:10 - 2:13The culprit was time perception.
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2:13 - 2:16Although we can make shockingly precise time estimates,
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2:16 - 2:19when we experience something new, unusual, or dynamic,
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2:19 - 2:20like hopping on one foot
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2:20 - 2:23while taking instructions from a voice on the computer,
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2:23 - 2:26or, say, jumping out of an airplane,
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2:26 - 2:29we often miscalculate how much time has passed.
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2:29 - 2:31Meaning, if you bungee jump for the first time,
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2:31 - 2:35your fall to the bottom may seem like it lasted for 10 seconds
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2:35 - 2:37while the recorded time may actually show
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2:37 - 2:40that the jump only lasted for 5.
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2:40 - 2:42The reason for this difference is
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2:42 - 2:44unlike your body's physical drop to the bottom,
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2:44 - 2:46your brain's perception of time does not follow
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2:46 - 2:49a straight line between two points.
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2:49 - 2:50Some scientists even believe
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2:50 - 2:53your brain follows more of a curved path
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2:53 - 2:55that is dependent on the amount of information
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2:55 - 2:57you take in as you fall downwards.
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2:57 - 2:59For example, David Eagleman,
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2:59 - 3:02a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine,
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3:02 - 3:04believes time perception is heavily influenced
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3:04 - 3:07by the number of memories and data
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3:07 - 3:08you record onto your brain.
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3:08 - 3:10When you have a new experience,
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3:10 - 3:13like jumping off a high dive for the first time,
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3:13 - 3:14your senses are heightened.
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3:14 - 3:16You're taking in more details
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3:16 - 3:18about sights, sounds, and smells
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3:18 - 3:20than you normally would.
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3:20 - 3:21And you store more data onto your brain
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3:21 - 3:23in the form of memories.
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3:23 - 3:25So, the more data you store in your brain,
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3:25 - 3:29like the smell of chlorine as you leapt from the high dive
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3:29 - 3:30or the color of the water,
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3:30 - 3:33the longer your perception of that experience.
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3:33 - 3:35Meaning, the number of memories
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3:35 - 3:37and data you record on your brain
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3:37 - 3:39has a direct impact on how long
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3:39 - 3:41you believe that experience to have lasted.
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3:41 - 3:43Have you ever heard a person recount
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3:43 - 3:45what it's like to be in a car accident?
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3:45 - 3:49Although automotive accidents typically last seconds,
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3:49 - 3:51those involved often say they felt
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3:51 - 3:54the accident lasted far longer.
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3:54 - 3:56Time perception can also account for
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3:56 - 4:00why your childhood may have seem to have lasted forever.
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4:00 - 4:03By adulthood, a year can slip by in a heartbeat,
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4:03 - 4:06but children record more data onto their brains.
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4:06 - 4:08This occurs because many of the experiences
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4:08 - 4:12we have as children are new and unfamiliar to us.
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4:12 - 4:14The stack of encoded memories on your brain
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4:14 - 4:17is so dense that reading them back makes you believe
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4:17 - 4:20your experiences must have taken forever.
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4:20 - 4:22Additionally, when you're 5 years old,
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4:22 - 4:25one year is 1/5 of your life.
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4:25 - 4:29But, when you're 25, one year makes up 1/25,
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4:29 - 4:31further altering your perception of time.
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4:31 - 4:33And, if you're an adult,
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4:33 - 4:34think about a trip that you may have taken
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4:34 - 4:37to a far-away land for the first time.
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4:37 - 4:40Didn't those two weeks you spent exploring your surroundings
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4:40 - 4:44seem to have lasted far longer than 14 days?
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4:44 - 4:45Though time perception is rooted
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4:45 - 4:47in both hard science and theory,
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4:47 - 4:49it provides a great lesson for us
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4:49 - 4:51on how to live our lives.
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4:51 - 4:52I'm sure you have all heard
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4:52 - 4:54that a person shouldn't sit on a couch
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4:54 - 4:56and let life pass them by.
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4:56 - 4:59Well, time perception tells us why that is.
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4:59 - 5:00If you get up and engage with the world
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5:00 - 5:01and have new experiences,
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5:01 - 5:04and maybe even hop around on one foot
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5:04 - 5:06and bark like a dog,
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5:06 - 5:07you will literally perceive your own life
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5:07 - 5:10to have lasted for a longer period of time.
- Title:
- An exercise in time perception - Matt Danzico
- Description:
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View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/an-exercise-in-time-perception-matt-danzico
Why is that some experiences feel like they last forever, while others fly by? We tend to miscalculate the time it takes to engage in novel activities due to the influence of memories. Matt Danzico explains why your childhood feels like it lasted forever and why that beach vacation seemed like two months rather than two weeks.
Lesson by Matt Danzico, animation by London Squared Productions.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 05:25
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