Why does time speed up with age?

Russia – A team of researchers conducted an experiment to find out why time seems to speed up as we age, and the results of the study were published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

Why does it seem to us in childhood that time runs slowly and that summer vacation is short, but the older we get, the faster the days and months pass?

There are many interesting answers to this question. According to the new study, the reason for this is the loss of the ability to be surprised. When we say that everything is familiar to us, that we have already seen everything, and routine is everywhere, the brain reacts to that in exactly the same way.

A team of researchers conducted an experiment that seemed very simple, where they showed a group of people an image for a fraction of a second, put them in a dark room and shined a flash of light on the image. The duration of the flash was repeated, but people were not told this. They were then asked to report which images they viewed for a long time, and which ones for a short time in their opinion. It turned out that the more complex, more interesting and brighter the image was, the longer it seemed to take to display it.

It is the brain that works in this way. If the brain thinks that there is nothing to look at, and everything is normal and understandable, it seems to it that the image flashes and goes away immediately. However, if the brain pays attention and begins to delve into it, it activates powerful processors within it and consumes more strength and energy in order to understand and perceive. This is what we consider “a long time.” We do not directly feel how the brain consumes energy because it is not a muscle. However, we feel this indirectly, i.e. through our subjective sense of time.

This seems to be the logical solution to the paradox of time. In childhood everything seems incomprehensible and unknown, and every event requires careful study. As a result, subjective time flows more slowly.

As we grow older, the brain simply ignores details and situations, because “there is nothing new here,” and time seems to pass by at lightning speed.

Indeed, have you noticed that if you go to an unfamiliar city for the weekend, two days seem to have lasted so long, and you are so relaxed, as if you have not worked for a year, but if you stay at home, you don’t even notice the weekend?

Source: Komsomolskaya Pravda