程阳：关于“时间”的七个骗局

Seven Ways We’re Tricked By Time

 

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/tricked-by-time

 

Seven Ways We’re Tricked By Time

 

Ever felt like time stands still while you’re waiting for something, or that as you get older, the years slip through your fingertips with much more ease? With swaths of tech around us and virtually everything being available on demand, it’s a very real possibility that our body clocks and perception of time have changed.

 

你是否曾在等待某人时感觉时间止如静水？又是否随着年龄的增长觉得时光越来越如白驹过隙？身处科技产品的包围之中，几乎所有的事物，只有你想不到的，没有你得不到的。因此，我们的生物钟和时间感很有可能已经发生了改变。​

 

1. Time Doesn’t Fly

【1】时光无法飞逝​

 

As the adage goes, “Time flies when we’re having fun”. In reality, though, we know fully well that it does not. Nevertheless, psychologist James J. Kellaris conducted his own experiment to find out whether there’s any truth to the aphorism. Kellaris had people listen to a piece of music they liked, and when he later asked them how much time they thought had passed, the listeners’ estimates were usually longer.

 

俗话说，“欢乐时光总是过得飞快”，不过我们都知道事实并不是这样。但是，心理学家James J. Kellaris进行了一项实验，想要弄清这句格言是否包含着一丝真理。Kellaris让人们听一曲他们喜欢的音乐。后来当他问他们感觉时间过去了多久时，听歌者们的估算总是比实际时间要长。​

 

Kellaris suggested that when we’re enjoying ourselves, we pay more attention to the event and our minds perceive that as extra time. That’s how we get the saying ‘Lost in the music’. On the other hand, the adage might lend itself to a self-fulfilling prophecy: if we believe that time is meant to fly when we’re having fun, we’re more likely to think we’re enjoying ourselves when it passes faster.

 

Kellaris认为，当我们陶醉于某些事情时，我们会更加专注于那件事，而我们的大脑就将这份关注当成了额外时间。这就是“迷失于音乐中”的由来。另一方面，这一谚语还可能帮助印证这样一个自我应验的预言：当我们玩乐时，如果我们相信时间会飞逝，那当时间过去的更快时，我们更有可能觉得我们玩得很开心。​

 

2. We’re Tricked by Tech

【2】我们被科技戏弄了​

 

As if we didn’t warp time enough on our own, a recent study has suggested that technology, too, is capable of altering our perception of time. In a world where we lead virtual and physical lives, it is hardly surprising that social media sites lend themselves to becoming veritable time sucks. A 2012 survey carried out by the clever folks at Cisco revealed that 60% of 18-30 year-olds check their smartphones compulsively for updates, with each glance taking with it bits and pieces of the day.

 

就像我们自己对时间的扭曲还不够一样，最近的一项研究表明，科技，也能改变我们的时间感。在这个生活即虚拟又现实的世界里，社交媒体网站们也变成了货真价实的耗时机器。2012年，Cisco公司的机智的小伙伴们做了一项调查，发现在18至30岁的人群中，60%的人会情不自禁地查看智能手机上的更新，每瞄一眼就是一寸光阴的流逝啊。

 

Stanford University psychologist Dr. Phillip Zimbardo thinks that this newfound obsession with the ‘right now’ moment has altered our idea of time. Having so much information readily available at out fingertips speeds up our internal clock. Likewise, each time we check Facebook or log in to Twitter, we subconsciously note the time, making us more aware of how much of it has passed in our day-to-day habits. Talking to the Huffington Post, Zimbardo said that “Technology makes us impatient for anything that takes more than seconds to achieve.”

 

斯坦福大学的心理学家Phillip Zimbardo博士认为，这一最新发现的对“此刻”的痴迷改变了我们的时间观念。指尖有如此之多的信息可以轻而易举地到手，这加快了我们的生物钟。同样地，每次我们查看Facebook或登录Twitter时，我们会下意识地留意时间，这让我们更能感觉到自己在这一日常习惯上所花的时间之多。Zimbardo对《赫芬顿邮报（Huffington Post）》的记者说：“科技使得我们对于那些要花几秒以上去完成的事物失去了耐心。”

 

3. Moving in Slow Motion

【3】慢动作移动​

 

We’ve all seen thrillers where actors walk away from an explosion in slow motion for dramatic effect, but these slow-mo moments might also be experienced outside the of the silver screen. In life-threatening or dangerous situations, people often say that time seems to slow down, and there’s a fairly logical reason why.

 

我们都在恐怖片中看过演员们以慢动作从一爆炸处脱身。这样是为了增强戏剧效果。但是你也能在镜头之外体验这些慢动作瞬间。在危及生命或危险情况下，人们总是说时间似乎放慢了一样，其中的原由是相当有逻辑的。

 

In 2007, a group of psychologists carried out a test where people fell 50 meters into a safety net and then were asked about their experience. Aside from being obviously terrified, researchers found that the test subjects recalled the experience as longer that it actually was, largely due to the way our bodies respond to danger. The adrenaline we produce allows us to concentrate better when in a life-threatening situation so that we can stay alive. As a result, everything seems to pass in slow motion because we remember far more details over a short period of time.

 

2007年，一队心理学家进行了一项测试，让人们从50米的高度坠向一个个安全网，然后询问他们的下坠体验。研究者发现，除了感觉到明显的恐惧，人们还觉得他们经历的时间比实际时间要长，这主要是由我们的身体对危险的反应方式造成的。在我们受到生命威胁时，我们会产生肾上腺素让自己更加集中精力，帮助我们活下去。结果，因为我们能够在短时间内记住更多的细节，所以一切似乎都是以慢动作发生的。

 

4. Speeding Up With Age

【4】时间随年龄加速​

 

It’s commonly said that as we get older, time passes in the “blink of an eye”. Aside from the part that technology plays in speeding up our understanding of time, another factor affects our perception of time as we get older, and it’s something we can’t really change.

 

人们总说随着我们变老，时间就会“在眨眼之间”溜走。除了科技会加速我们对时间的感觉，随着我们年龄的增加，还有一个因素也会影响我们的时间感，而且我们还无力改变这一因素。

 

When young and fresh-faced, we’re constantly discovering new and exciting things that we’ve not experienced before, and we naturally pay a lot more attention to them. As we get older, though, those “new” experiences grow pale. By extension, time seems to pass more quickly. Interestingly, a study carried out in 1997 by Mangan and Bolinsky went some way to proving that older people really do perceive time differently. While people in their 20’s could guess when three minutes had passed fairly accurately, those in their 60’s overestimated the time elapsed by about 20%, giving some credence to the idea that time really does speed up with age.

 

当我们还稚气未脱时，我们总是能发现从未体验过的新奇有趣的事情，我们自然而然的就那些事更加关注。然而，当我们长大，这些“新奇”的经历变的索然无味。这样一来，时间也就过去的更快。有趣的是， Mangan 和 Bolinsky在1997年做的一项研究证明，老年人确实对时间有着不同的感觉。20多岁的年轻人能够相当准确的猜测三分钟已经过去了，但是60多岁的人在估算时间时会多算20%，这就增加了“时间确实会随着年龄的增长加快”这一观点的可信度。

 

5. Afternoon Naps

【5】午后小憩

 

One of the smallest but most enjoyable pleasures in the world is the humble afternoon nap. A quick, 20-minute power nap can revitalize us just enough to carry on with the rest of the day, but any longer than that and our ability to tell the time goes out the window.

 

世界上最微不足道但又最幸福的事就是来个简简单单的午后小憩。短短的“20分钟电源午睡”能让我们在剩下的半天里精神充沛。但是一旦睡过头了，我们的时间判断能力就会随风而去。

 

When we’re tired, our perception of time goes completely off-kilter. That’s because when we’re sleep deprived, our brains just can’t keep up with discerning between short and long stretches of time. The length of time we nap is also key to how our mind keeps time. After 20 minutes of napping, we enter something called slow-wave sleep. If you break the wave mid-way through, it will take a while for you to accurately perceive time again, which is precisely why they call it a 20 minute power nap.

 

当我们劳累时，我们的时间感就会完全紊乱。这是因为当我们睡眠不足时，我们的大脑是无法辨别时间的长短的。午睡的时间长短也是一个影响我们大脑计算时间的关键因素。小睡了20分钟后，我们就进入了被称为“慢波睡眠”的阶段。如果你将慢波睡眠从中打断，你就得花上一段时间来把时间感调整精确，这也正是我们将其称为“二十分钟电源午睡”的原因了。

 

6.Time Stands Still

【6】时间停滞

 

Remember watching the clock in high school and waiting for the bell to ring? If it felt like time was standing still, that might be because your brain genuinely thought it was. The “optical” illusion of time standing still is something that happens when our eyes move quickly from one point to another. According to Kielan Yarrow and a whole host of other psychologists, when our gaze fixes suddenly on the second hand of a clock, our perception of time stretches slightly backwards to compensate for that movement. As a result, your mind tells you that you’ve been looking at the second hand for longer, and thus fills in the blank with what it thinks should be there.

 

还记得高中时看着时钟等待下课铃响的经历吗？如果你感觉时间就像静止了一样，那可能是因为你的大脑真的是这么想的。当我们的眼球快速地从一点移动到另一点是，就会出现这种时间停滞的“光学”幻觉。据Kielan Yarrow以及其他许多心理学家说，当我们忽然盯着时钟的秒针看时，我们的时间知觉会稍稍向后延伸以抵消这一动作。因此，你的大脑会让你觉得你盯着秒针看的时间比实际时间更长，这样就能自欺欺人地填补那一空白。

 

7. Getting Emotional

【7】情绪波动

 

Many like to think that they’re not ruled by their emotions, but they do affect our bodies more than you think—at least in terms of how we perceive time. At the bottom of a long list of ways in which our brain is constantly finding new ways to trick us, negative emotions in particular can wreak havoc on our time-keeping abilities. While boredom can make time seem to stand still, just about any emotion will change how fast or slow the time goes—especially anxiety.

 

许多人都认为他们不是感情用事的人，但是感情对我们身体的影响确实比我们想的要大——至少在我们的时间感方面。我们的大脑总能找到新方法调戏我们，而在这个新方法候选名单的底部就是负面情绪，它尤其能够对我们的计时能力产生严重的破坏。就像乏味的事物能让我们觉得时间好像静止了一样，几乎任何感情都会或多或少地影响我们的时间感——尤其是焦虑。

 

For a few years now, psychologists have carried out studies on the subject and have concluded that individuals experiencing negative emotions concentrate more on the passing of time than those who are in a good mood, which makes a particularly anxiety-filled moment seem longer. That might explain why after we argue, the room’s tension-ridden atmosphere makes time seem to drag on and on.

 

心理学家们已经就这一现象进行了多年的研究，并且得出结论：比起心情愉悦的人，情绪消极的人会更加关注于时间的流逝，这就让极其焦虑的时刻更加漫长。这或许能解释为什么在人们争吵之后，屋子里的紧张气氛似乎能让时间放慢脚步一样。