Time flies when you’re having fun, the old saying goes. But how can time – maybe the most fundamental concept of the universe – feel different under different conditions? Our brains perceive time differently in different circumstances. When we pay close attention to something, tedium can set in and it can feel like time slows to a crawl. Conversely, if our lives demand we juggle several different things at once, we tend to pay less attention to some activities – and time races by in a flash.
March 14, 2014