Why do events seem to pass more quickly as we age?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the phenomenon of perceived time passing more quickly as individuals age, examining potential psychological and neurological explanations. It includes perspectives from psychology, neuroscience, and personal experiences related to time perception.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that the acceleration of perceived time may be linked to better prediction of events due to accumulated experience.
  • Others argue that the perception of time passing quickly is related to the proportion of life that a given time period represents, suggesting that as one ages, the same duration feels shorter relative to their total lifespan.
  • One participant discusses the role of the prefrontal cortex in time perception, suggesting that as tasks become familiar, the prefrontal cortex becomes less involved, potentially leading to a faster perception of time passing.
  • A hypothesis is proposed that "perceived time-passing is proportional to prefrontal cortex activation level," which could be tested using fMRI technology.
  • There is a question raised about the implications of prefrontal cortex involvement in time perception, particularly in relation to patients with prefrontal damage or lobotomy.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the reasons behind the perception of time passing quickly, with no consensus reached on a singular explanation. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing perspectives.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the dependence on individual experiences and interpretations of time perception, as well as the need for empirical testing of proposed hypotheses regarding the prefrontal cortex.

Loren Booda
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Do events seem to pass ever more swiftly because we predict them better with experience?
 
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That's probably a question for a psychiatrist or psychologist to answer properly. I believe that the answer is negative, but I'm just going by years and years and years of life experience. Given my total lack of time-sense (which, supposedly, is a symptom of my ADD), I'm probably not the best source. It seems to me, though, that the perceived acceleration of time is simply because the period immediately preceding the present consists of a much smaller percentage of my life than did the same amount of time 40 years ago.
 
It's been shown that initially when you are performing a novel task the prefrontal cortex is quite involved. As you continue to perform the task though the prefrontal cortex becomes less and less involved. It is also known that the prefrontal cortex has a lot to do with sequencing goal-directed actions in time. This we know through evaluation of patients with prefrontal damage.

So it seems possible to me that "perceived time-passing" becoming faster with experience may have something to do with prefrontal cortex being less involved with many tasks.

We could go so far as to formulate a hypothesis here: "perceived time-passing is proportional to prefrontal cortex activation level" and this could readily be tested in an fMRI scanner... I wonder if it's been done before...
 
Interesting, Cincinnatus.
I was unaware of the novelty/pre-frontal cortex relationship. Does that explain why pre-frontal lobotomy patients seem to have no initiative?
 
Danger said:
Interesting, Cincinnatus.
I was unaware of the novelty/pre-frontal cortex relationship. Does that explain why pre-frontal lobotomy patients seem to have no initiative?

Well yes and no, it's consistent anyway. Actually studying lobotomy patients (and other people with PFC damage) was how it was inferred to begin with. Now we have converging evidence from fMRI.
 

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