popsci.com — Understanding how the brain perceives the passage of time could lead to treatments for mental illnesses. Why does time seem to slow down during a life-threatening situation? Our reporter falls 15 stories to find out
Apr 14, 2010 View in Crawl 4
missinglinkApr 14, 2010
There's some really awesome information about this phenomenon in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink. He's the author who wrote The Tipping Point. He talks about how your brain reacts to fight-or-flight situations - and how to take advantage of it. Very cool.
majoroutageApr 14, 2010
And then a step to the right
kooftApr 14, 2010
"Yes agree thought it was obvious. Your brain speeds up the "cycles per sec" or "shutter speed" and the perception is that the rest of the world is slowing down. Kinda like a high speed camera shot."The article actually says this is incorrect. That's why they used the random number generator. The numbers changed at a FPS rate just a bit higher than what you can comprehend. If the brain's "CPU speed" increased, the numbers should become legible (as the retina is believe to be able to process 100FPS). In fact, the study indicated that no speed increase occurred.According to the article, it's more of an information accounting issue. The brain typically processes X amount of data in Y amount of time. When the brain processes 2X data, during what they call a novel event, it assumes it took 2Y time, when it fact it took Y time. I guess what they're saying is that the brain has the ability to process a lot more information that it does normally (energy savings) and the time accounting portion of the brain doesn't adjust immediately the increased data processing.
falco217Apr 14, 2010
<a class="user" href="http://xkcd.com/566/" rel="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/566/</a>
assassyn360Apr 14, 2010
Now all we need to do is learn how to curve bullets.
Closed AccountApr 14, 2010
we were in bed together for what seemed like so small an interval of lustful happinesssitting in family court being sued for child support seemed to take an eternity of misery
lonewolf01Apr 15, 2010
I'd thought of that too. Freaky indeed. :/
cenobyte40000Apr 15, 2010
Did he really have to jump off a building to figure out Einstein wasn't an idiot? Does no one else remember the story of the hotplate and the pretty woman?
spectecjrApr 15, 2010
Maybe you should read the article. (Clue: No, your idea doesn't hold any scientific weight).
psykivApr 15, 2010
I am usually not fast to do things, but to react to something I am usually ridiculously quick. I have successfully avoided car accidents a few times by being able to react extremely quickly (having a car that handles well helps a bit too)I think the most freaky one ever was a simple one. A few years ago I was in the kitchen. I was facing away from the table, but kind of leaning on it. I hear the noise of the glass hitting the very edge of the table (my sister had dropped it) and in less than a 10th of a second, I turn around and grab the cup in mid air, probably less than 3 inches from the edge of the table where it had originally hit before it would have hit the floor. Til this day my sister thinks I am a ninja because of that incident.
augustusosariMay 14, 2010
We can know. It's called neurology.People like you who spend their time asking pointless questions and not even considering the possibility of searching for an answer are the enemy of science.