Editing Time (section)

== Perception ==
[[File:William James b1842c.jpg|thumb|upright|Philosopher and psychologist [[William James]]]]
{{Main|Time perception}}

The [[specious present]] refers to the time duration wherein one's [[perception]]s are considered to be in the present. The experienced present is said to be 'specious' in that, unlike the objective present, it is an interval and not a durationless instant. The term ''specious present'' was first introduced by the psychologist E. R. Clay, and later developed by [[William James]].<ref name="Andersen">{{cite journal |author=Andersen |first1=Holly |last2=Grush |first2=Rick |date=2009 |title=A brief history of time-consciousness: historical precursors to James and Husserl |url=http://mind.ucsd.edu/papers/bhtc/Andersen&Grush.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of the History of Philosophy |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=277–307 |doi=10.1353/hph.0.0118 |s2cid=16379171 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216100320/http://mind.ucsd.edu/papers/bhtc/Andersen%26Grush.pdf |archive-date=16 February 2008 |access-date=9 April 2011}}
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=== Biopsychology ===
The brain's judgment of time is known to be a highly distributed system, including at least the [[cerebral cortex]], [[cerebellum]], and [[basal ganglia]] as its components. One particular component, the [[suprachiasmatic nucleus|suprachiasmatic nuclei]], is responsible for the [[circadian rhythm|circadian (or daily) rhythm]], while other cell clusters appear capable of shorter-range ([[ultradian]]) timekeeping. [[Mental chronometry]] is the use of response time in perceptual-motor tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of cognitive operations. Judgments of time can be altered by [[temporal illusion]]s (like the [[kappa effect]]),<ref name="Wada">Wada Y, Masuda T, Noguchi K, 2005, "Temporal illusion called 'kappa effect' in event perception" Perception 34 ECVP Abstract Supplement.
</ref> age,<ref>{{cite web |last=Adler |first=Robert |title=Look how time flies |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16422180.900-look-how-time-flies |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614233936/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16422180.900-look-how-time-flies |archive-date=14 June 2011 |access-date=9 April 2011}}
</ref> [[Psychoactive drug|psychoactive drugs]], and [[hypnosis]].<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Bowers, Kenneth |last2=Brenneman |first2=Heather A. |date=January 1979 |title=Hypnosis and the perception of time |journal=International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=29–41 |doi=10.1080/00207147908407540 |pmid=541126}}
</ref> The sense of time is impaired in some people with neurological diseases such as [[Parkinson's disease]] and [[attention deficit disorder]].

Psychoactive drugs can impair the judgment of time. [[Stimulant]]s can lead both humans and rats to overestimate time intervals,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wittmann |first1=M. |last2=Leland |first2=D. S. |last3=Churan |first3=J. |last4=Paulus |first4=M. P. |date=8 October 2007 |title=Impaired time perception and motor timing in stimulant-dependent subjects |journal=Drug Alcohol Depend. |volume=90 |issue=2–3 |pages=183–192 |doi=10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.03.005 |pmc=1997301 |pmid=17434690}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite journal |last=Cheng |first=Ruey-Kuang |author2=Macdonald, Christopher J. |author3=Meck, Warren H. |date=2006 |title=Differential effects of cocaine and ketamine on time estimation: Implications for neurobiological models of interval timing |journal=[[Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior]] |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=114–122 |pmid=16920182 |doi=10.1016/j.pbb.2006.07.019 |s2cid=42295255 |url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18303059 |format=online abstract |access-date=9 April 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810071741/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18303059 |archive-date=10 August 2011  |url-access=subscription }}
</ref> while [[depressant]]s can have the opposite effect.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tinklenberg |first1=Jared R. |author-link=Jared Tinklenberg |last2=Roth |first2=Walton T. |last3=Kopell |first3=Bert S. |date=January 1976 |title=Marijuana and ethanol: Differential effects on time perception, heart rate, and subjective response |journal=Psychopharmacology |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=275–279 |doi=10.1007/BF00426830 |pmid=826945 |s2cid=25928542}}
</ref> The level of activity in the brain of [[neurotransmitter]]s such as [[dopamine]] and [[norepinephrine]] may be the reason for this.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arzy |first1=Shahar |last2=Molnar-Szakacs |first2=Istvan |last3=Blanke |first3=Olaf |date=18 June 2008 |title=Self in Time: Imagined Self-Location Influences Neural Activity Related to Mental Time Travel |journal=The Journal of Neuroscience |volume=28 |issue=25 |pages=6502–6507 |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5712-07.2008 |pmc=6670885 |pmid=18562621}}
</ref> Such chemicals will either excite or inhibit the firing of [[neuron]]s in the brain, with a greater firing rate allowing the brain to register the occurrence of more events within a given interval (speed up time) and a decreased firing rate reducing the brain's capacity to distinguish events occurring within a given interval (slow down time).<ref name="Carter 186–187">{{cite book |title=The Human Brain Book |first1=Rita |last1=Carter |publisher=Dorling Kindersley Publishing |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-7566-5441-2 |pages=186–187 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCV6cwU3qm0C |access-date=27 February 2016 |archive-date=13 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513113657/https://books.google.com/books?id=eCV6cwU3qm0C |url-status=live }}</ref>

Psychologists assert that time seems to go faster with age, but the literature on this age-related perception of time remains controversial.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gruber |first1=Ronald P. |title=Studies on the structure of time: from physics to psycho(patho)logy |last2=Wagner |first2=Lawrence F. |last3=Block |first3=Richard A. |date=2000 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-306-46439-3 |editor1-last=Buccheri |editor1-first=R. |page=54 |chapter=Subjective Time Versus Proper (Clock) Time |access-date=9 April 2011 |editor2-last=Di Gesù |editor2-first=V. |editor3-last=Saniga |editor3-first=Metod |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMsDqsvcxckC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721230232/http://books.google.com/books?id=LMsDqsvcxckC |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=live}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=LMsDqsvcxckC&pg=PA54 Extract of page 54] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513024117/https://books.google.com/books?id=LMsDqsvcxckC&pg=PA54|date=13 May 2016}}</ref> Those who support this notion argue that young people, having more excitatory neurotransmitters, are able to cope with faster external events.<ref name="Carter 186–187" /> Some also argued that the perception of time is also influenced by memory and how much one have experienced; for example, as one get older, they will have spent less part of their total life waiting a month.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Jillian |date=2022-12-16 |title=Time Flies By Faster As We Get Older. Here's Why. |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/time-perception-aging_l_63973dc2e4b0169d76d92560 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref> Meanwhile, children's expanding cognitive abilities allow them to understand time in a different way. Two- and three-year-olds' understanding of time is mainly limited to "now and not now". Five- and six-year-olds can grasp the ideas of past, present, and future. Seven- to ten-year-olds can use clocks and calendars.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kennedy-Moore |first=Eileen |author-link=Eileen Kennedy-Moore |date=28 March 2014 |title=Time Management for Kids |url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/growing-friendships/201403/time-management-kids |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730093159/https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/growing-friendships/201403/time-management-kids |archive-date=30 July 2022 |access-date=26 April 2014 |magazine=Psychology Today}}</ref> [[Socioemotional selectivity theory]] proposed that when people perceive their time as open-ended and nebulous, they focus more on future-oriented goals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Giasson |first1=Hannah L. |last2=Liao |first2=Hsiao-Wen |last3=Carstensen |first3=Laura L. |date=2019 |title=Counting down while time flies: implications of age-related time acceleration for goal pursuit across adulthood |journal=Current Opinion in Psychology |volume=26 |pages=85–89 |doi=10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.07.001 |issn=2352-2518 |pmc=6436994 |pmid=30048830}}</ref>

=== Spatial conceptualization ===
Although time is regarded as an abstract concept, there is increasing evidence that time is [[Conceptual metaphor|conceptualized]] in the mind in terms of space.<ref name="Núñez-2012">{{Cite journal |last1=Núñez |first1=Rafael |last2=Cooperrider |first2=Kensy |last3=Doan |first3=D |last4=Wassmann |first4=Jürg |date=1 July 2012 |title=Contours of time: Topographic construals of past, present, and future in the Yupno valley of Papua New Guinea  |journal=Cognition |volume=124 |issue=1 |pages=25–35 |doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2012.03.007|pmid=22542697 |s2cid=17215084 }}</ref> That is, instead of thinking about time in a general, abstract way, humans think about time in a spatial way and mentally organize it as such. Using space to think about time allows humans to mentally organize temporal events in a specific way. This spatial representation of time is often represented in the mind as a [[mental timeline]] (MTL).<ref name="Bottini-2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Bottini |first1=Roberto |last2=Crepaldi |first2=Davide |last3=Casasanto |first3=Daniel |last4=Crollen |first4=Virgine |last5=Collignon |first5=Olivier |date=1 August 2015 |title=Space and time in the sighted and blind   |journal=Cognition |volume=141 |pages=67–72 |doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2015.04.004|pmid=25935747 |hdl=2078.1/199842 |s2cid=14646964 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> These origins are shaped by many environmental factors.<ref name="Núñez-2012" /> [[Literacy]] appears to play a large role in the different types of MTLs, as reading/[[Writing system|writing direction]] provides an everyday temporal orientation that differs from culture to culture.<ref name="Bottini-2015" /> In Western cultures, the MTL may unfold rightward (with the past on the left and the future on the right) since people mostly read and write from left to right.<ref name="Bottini-2015" /> Western calendars also continue this trend by placing the past on the left with the future progressing toward the right. Conversely, speakers of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and Hebrew read from right to left, and their MTLs unfold leftward (past on the right with future on the left); evidence suggests these speakers organize time events in their minds like this as well.<ref name="Bottini-2015" />

There is also evidence that some cultures use an allocentric spatialization, often based on environmental features.<ref name="Núñez-2012" /> A study of the indigenous Yupno people of [[Papua New Guinea]] found that they may use an allocentric MTL, in which time flows uphill; when speaking of the past, individuals gestured downhill, where the river of the valley flowed into the ocean. When speaking of the future, they gestured uphill, toward the source of the river. This was common regardless of which direction the person faced.<ref name="Núñez-2012" /> A similar study of the Pormpuraawans, an [[Aboriginal groupings of Western Australia|aboriginal group]] in Australia, reported that when they were asked to organize photos of a man aging "in order," individuals consistently placed the youngest photos to the east and the oldest photos to the west, regardless of which direction they faced.<ref name="Boroditsky-2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Boroditsky |first1=Lera |author-link=Lera Boroditsky |last2=Gaby |first2=Alice |year=2010 |title=Remembrances of Times East |journal=Psychological Science |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=1635–1639 |doi=10.1177/0956797610386621 |pmid=20959511 |s2cid=22097776}}</ref> This directly clashed with an American group that consistently organized the photos from left to right. Therefore, this group also appears to have an allocentric MTL, but based on the cardinal directions instead of geographical features.<ref name="Boroditsky-2010" /> The wide array of distinctions in the way different groups think about time leads to the broader question that different groups may also think about other abstract concepts in different ways as well, such as causality and number.<ref name="Núñez-2012" />