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According to Adrian Bejan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University, our perception of time is rather fluid. Factors including age, activity, and whether we’ve had enough sleep can significantly skew our sense of time.
In an article published in the European Review, Bejan explains, “Time as we experience it represents perceived changes in mental stimuli.”
He came to this conclusion after analyzing research on cognition, vision, and time.
Bejan first became interested in the topic many years ago when he was a member of a Romanian basketball team. He realized that when he was well rested, his level of play improved, as well as his awareness of time.
The research Bejan has reviewed shows not only how our energy affects our sense of time, but also our vision.
Unconscious rapid eye movements known as saccades are just one of the ways our brains interpret stimuli that influence our sense of time.
When we are young and experiencing many things for the first time, our brains process the images we see more rapidly, leading to our sensing a slower passage of time.
As we age, our vision isn’t as sharp, so our brains don’t process images as quickly, leading to a perception that time is passing more quickly.
This can also occur when we are tired or experiencing symptoms from cognitive disorders.
These findings led Bejan to believe that everyone has his or her own sense of time — which has nothing to do with real, physical time or another person’s sense of time.