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One of the strangest side-effects of intense fear is time dilation, the apparent slowing-down of time. It's a common trope in movies and TV shows, like the memorable scene from The Matrix in which time slows down so dramatically that bullets fired at the hero seem to move at a walking pace. Read More
Cool stuff right here, very
Cool stuff right here, very insightful.
Flawed
That study was flawed. The fact that the "free faller" had to concentrate on looking at the time while falling may have distracted them enough so as to not induce that fear which, therefore, nullifies the results.
Yeah, to control for that,
Yeah, to control for that, they should have first trained the people to be able to read the non-flashing version of the watch with perfect accuracy. A bit of practice makes the only change the speed up the watch. Unfortunately this would reduce the fear response too.
flaw
couldn't it be that hte second time the person jumped they did not experience the same level of fear as the first jump?
interesting
funny how some motor vehicle accident victims remember nothing of the actual impact.. maybe the "memory" was not yet overlaid.
Agreed
That was gonna be my comment. But, aside from having to concentrate on the watch they went a second time. It would have been a better study if hey would have tried the watches on a whole new group of participants. The fact that the people went once with and once without just means the level of fear the second time around was not as great because the individual knew what to expect and at the same time was completely distracted from the experience. Theres gotta be a better way. I believe the theory to be true but I dont think its something you can study without the complete element of surprise.
I would also like to be able
I would also like to be able to read numbers off a wrist-watch during a 150-feet dive.
Trivial Pursuit
No need for a fancy experiment.
Talk to any hockey fan about how fast time goes when his team is short handed on a penalty versus when his team is a man up on a penalty.
He can very clearly tell you which of those two minutes winds down way "faster".
Someone needs to research
Someone needs to research time dilation just after you wake up. After a few hours sleep you wake up and minutes can feel very stretched. Lying in bed for just 3 - 5 minutes feel much longer that usual. Once you are fully awake 3 - 5 minutes whizz past at a normal rate. I find it very strange, but always enjoy those slowed down minutes in the morning.
I know exactly what you mean.
I know exactly what you mean. Minutes tick by incredibly, if agonizingly slow. Hmm, time flies when you're having fun really is true, because in contrast, fear creates the opposite. Reminds me of those accidents like when you fall off of something and an 8-second bliss occurs in what bystanders say was a millisecond incident.
I also have had that same
I also have had that same experience. I often set my alarm slightly earlier than when I plan to get up so that I can have some time just lying in bed. It is surprising how if I spend 15min staring into space or lost in though 15min seems to wizz past, where as when I daydreaming any other time, time seems to go past faster than normal.
Perception drive reality
Another time test was done with groups divided by age. The groups were asked to count to the seconds to 60. As expected the younger people arrived at 60 before the minute was up and the older group went past a minute to count to 60.
As far as the tower experiment I thought it was hypothesized that the brain deliberately slows down our perception to take in all the stimuli so that a sound decision can be made in the "heat of the moment".
That was my thought exactly,
That was my thought exactly, in addition, was thinking that this seemed like inherited protection for humans similiar to the skunk's spray or the porcupine's quills.
Not being able to read
Not being able to read numbers off a wrist watch while your body registers potential mortal danger points first to the fact that the mind is selective as to what is actually an important task.
It seems to me that the researcher can only conclude the rate of experience of the freefaller could be tested by this wrist-watch attention if he assumes that all every perception during the freefall was of equal importance to the mind. Is there any basis for that assumption?
That's an excellent point
The experience of intense fear tends to cause "cognitive narrowing" that shuts out non-salient information. I think, though, that if the subject is able to consciously direct their attention to the watch, that information should get through the filter.
It is not a question of
It is not a question of whether the information can get through, it is whether the information is suitable for the experiment.
From my experiences when I am in a panicked state I find that my speak quicken and then my reactions also speed up. I do however end up becoming very distracted and can miss things in my environment. This also counts as evidence that certain parts of the brain speed up were as others either stay the same of potentially slow down.
I would say that a better test would be to test someone's reaction times in a state of fear. An example is having 3 lights and three buttons. One of each being purple, green or orange. Once in a state of fear the subject must wait for the light to flash once and then press a corresponding button of that colour, this would then be compared to being in a resting state.
This would mean that factors such as their ability to process numbers (or the shapes of the numbers), and their ability to focus 100% on one thing over a period of time, while in a state of fear will not be considered. This means that it is more of a test of reactions rather than of mental ability. Of course the fact that it uses 3 light means that the brain does need to process information so that it is not an instant reaction fuelled by adrenalin.
Better yet - Scary game + MRI
A scary game and an MRI should do the trick.
Keep track of what the player is doing, give him obstacles, then scare him and sometimes increase the pace a little to see what happens.
Maybe thought speeds up, not perception
The test seems flawed in that external perception might not be the thing that speeds up. For instance, musical notes don't get lower when you're afraid, as if you were slowing down a tape recorder. Your eyes and ears aren't what's affected by fear, it's your cognitive processing.
A game like Bop-It or Simon or Tetris or Centipede. If you could rig the game to some scary real life consequences (like as you screw up, the threads holding you up high in the air break, one by one)...
thought speed
You have reached a very important observance in your consciousness - thought does speed up - keep going with this... Brian
i want to hear/read more
i want to hear/read more about it
oversight
you are missing one thing. how do you stay in a state of fear while pressing buttons?
You could
During the time between when the light flashed and the button was pressed, you could have a blade being thrusted at the person somehow. Pressing the button would stop the mechanism. This would work especially well if the mechanism did not recede and the dagger came closer to the subject every time the light flashed.
Evolutionary purpose?
I could see how this could make sense from an evolutionary point—having more detailed memories from previous stressful times would help you make better decisions in similar situations in the future.
About that last paragraph...
I agree about how our perception of "present time" could just be an illusion. It actually makes sense with everything else we know about human emotion and mental processes.
For instance, they have shown that electrical signals whiz around the brain at anywhere from 3 to 300 mph. At this max speed of 300 mph, going across our brain that is only approx. 1 ft. across, those thoughts should be instantaneous, as well as our reflex time. However, when driving a vehicle, we actually have about 3/4 of a second between the time we see something in front of us to the time we start to move our foot to the brake.
If our thoughts really were instantaneous, there wouldn't be that 3/4 second span for us to react. That time span is actually used by our brain to receive the visual, process it, decide how to react, and then send out the signal to the body. Clearly, we do not live in the present, instead we react to what we have already seen or experienced. Those visuals have to go into our brain, and we have to subconsciously sort them out and figure out what we are seeing, and then we make a conscious decision based on the visual.
I am curious as to what else they find out studying this aspect of the brain.
An excellent paragraph
That last line got me too. It inadvertently says; we don't know what the heck we're doing. If I put out my hand to look at it, I can only look at it because I prevously decided to extend it. And when I notice it's there, it may already be gone. That blows my mind. Or rather...blew.
About falling from horses
some 30 years ago I used to break and train horses for jumping. Needless to say, I fell a great number of times each year. I can assure that in many falls I somehow managed to pick the less dangerous spot to land; as a matter of fact, I only broke two ribs in 20 years.
There is only so much you can do to delay a fall from a horse that trips on an obstacle, and yes, the action was slower, otherwise I would have many more broken bones to show. Explanation?
Inconclusive/"Whole Life Flashed Before My Eyes"
How can this test be considered valid? I don't care how dilated time becomes in the mind, there is NO WAY that you could expect a person who is free-falling 150ft to be concentrating on the numbers on a wrist watch. This test is ignores one very important (not to mention obvious) variable; the effects of fear on concentration. The purpose and function of fear is to draw your attention to whatever is endangering you so that you can deal with the threat and keep yourself safe. Fear, by its very nature, steals your attention. To expect someone heightened state of fear to concentrate on anything other than the threat at hand is ridiculous, and the results of such a test are inconclusive.
And what about the sensation of having your "whole life flash before your eyes?" An experience where, in a moment of startled panic, you have memories and thoughts rush through your mind quickly, and you are completely aware that it is happening? I know that this is not superimposed by the memory, because many times that this has happened to me, I can remember thinking, "wow, I'm thinking really fast right now!" Would there be any way to measure time dilation's effect on cognitive thought, not just sensory retention?
Great article! If nothing else, it has sparked some good conversation!
Life Flashing in Front of Your Eyes
It's a fascinating topic that I've often wondered about. We've all heard about it, but does it really occur? And if so, what's the science is behind it? I'll have to do some research and follow up with a later post.
adrenaline
i noticed nobody commented on adrenaline which may give the entire time dialation effect the adrenaline according to many sources weakens concentration on all but one thing witch may explain the wristwatch thing.
No experience of present moment?
Interesting test but wrong conclusion. Suggesting that 'we don't really have a direct experience of what we're feeling right now, but only a memory' disregards everything we know about BEING in the moment, where we experience only what IS in that moment.
There seems to be a confusion about the meaning of 'experiencing/feeling' and 'thinking'. What we experience or feel is not necessarily the same as thinking and a memory of something may not be what was experienced.
Also, being in a state of fear affects the functioning of our brain; it can even cause our mind to go blank. When this happens there is indeed only a memory and the memory is flawed.
Dr Christine Maingard, Author of 'Think Less, Be More' http://www.thinklessbemore.com
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