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Age Effects in Perception of Time
Abstract
Despite the widespread belief that the subjective speed of the passage of time increases with age, empirical results are controversial. In this study, a combination of questionnaires was employed to assess subjective time perception by 499 subjects, ages 14 to 94 years. Pearson correlations and nonlinear regression analyses on a variety of questionnaires and the age of the participants show that the momentary perception of the passage of time and the retrospective judgment of past periods of time are a function of chronological age; however, small-to-moderate effects accounted for at most 10% of the variance. Results generally support the widespread perception that the passage of time speeds up with age. These results are discussed in the context of models of prospective and retrospective time judgment, but interpretations have to be treated with caution given methodological limitations.
... Aber auch jahreszeitliche Schwankungen bestimmen das subjektive Erleben und die Funktionsfähigkeit von Organismen (Roenneberg, 2004). Dem Menschen wahrscheinlich vorbehalten sind das Bewusstsein eines schnellen oder langsamen Verlaufs von Zeit und subjektive Einschätzungen von Zeitdauern, die sich über Jahrzehnte erstrecken können (Wittmann & Lehnhoff, 2005). Die Auffassung von Zeit geht in menschliche Planungen ein, bei der Antizipation von Wartezeit, wenn wir abschätzen, wie lange wir in einer Schlange vor einem Schalter warten müssen, wenn ein Jugendlicher für die Altersversorgung einbezahlt und damit einen möglichen zukünftigen Gewinn über einen momentanen Verlust stellt; oder sie hat einen großen Einfluss auf persönliche Lebensentscheidungen, wenn es etwa um die Antizipation von restlicher Lebenszeit geht (Carstensen, 2006). ...
... Je mehr wechselnde Ereignisse während eines zu beurteilenden Intervalls aus dem Gedächtnis abgerufen werden können, umso länger erscheint uns die Zeit im nachhinein. Ein mit variierenden Tätigkeiten und Erlebnissen angefüllter Tag, wenn wir diesem nachsinnen, kommt uns am Abend lang vor; ein Tag angefüllt mit monotonen Beschäftigungen kommt uns retrospektiv gesehen kürzer vor (Wittmann & Lehnhoff, 2005). Auch für kürzere Zeitdauern konstituiert sich -experimentell nachgewiesen -dieser Effekt: ein 20 minütiges Intervall, in dem Probanden kognitive Aufgaben lösen mussten, wurde beim gleichzeitigen Abspielen von 8 Liedern als länger eingeschätzt als ein gleichlanges Intervall bei dem 4 Lieder im Hintergrund abgespielt wurden (Bailey & Areni, 2006). ...
... Zu diesem Zweck wurden in einer unlängst durchgeführten Studie 500 Personen im Alter zwischen 14 und 94 Jahren gebeten, eine Reihe von Erhebungsinstrumenten zum Erlebnis von Zeit auszufüllen (Wittmann & Lehnhoff, 2005). Unter den zahlreichen Ergebnissen sind folgende hervorzuheben: Bei der Einschätzung der zurückliegenden vier Lebensperioden zwischen der Kindheit (0 -12 Jahre), der Jugend (13 -19 Jahre), dem jungen Erwachsenenalter zwischen 20 und 29 Jahren und dem zwischen 30 und 39 Jahren nimmt die subjektiv erlebte Geschwindigkeit der Zeit stetig zu. ...
Over the last decades, empirical work in time perception research has mainly focused on internal clock models but the field is now undergoing transformations. More recently, a growing body of evidence has shown that the experience of time is not encapsulated, rather, time perception influences, and is influenced by, emotional and cognitive states. Here, I will show that temporal processes are indeed tightly coupled to cognitive and emotional processes. For this, I will discuss the relations between human perception of time and both psychological well-being and cognitive abilities within current psychological and neurobiological theories of temporal processing. Specifically, the focus will be on a wide range of time experiences together with the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying these experiences. A more precise description of these mechanisms would find clinical applications in neurology and psychiatry. The perception of duration and that of temporal order evolve on different time scales and human time experiences range from milliseconds to decades. What are the relations between such time scales of time experience and human experiences whether in an everyday setting or a clinical one? Here, I will propose that the experience of time is in fact an indicator of cognitive and emotional states.
... Findings of passage of time in adolescent are scarce too 31,182 , and further longitudinal studies are needed to outline a neurodevelopmental trajectory of this temporal aspect. Awareness of time and its passage, awareness of being subject to time distortions, self-construction, and uncertainty about the future 183 should also impact time judgments and the imagination of future scenarios (i.e., mental time travel) [184][185][186] . ...
... In addition, a reduced subjective feeling of temporal distance both for weeks and months has been reported with increasing age 266 . Although the study of the developmental trajectory of temporal perspectives goes beyond the scopes of this review, subjective temporal distance could be affected by the perceived shortening of their future time perspective 267 , bearing in mind the idea that time would pass faster now than before the last 5-10 years, or as we get older 31,182,268 . This finding could be in line with the underestimation of an event duration by representing a smaller time window related to an event duration of several seconds to minutes range in a horizontal timeline 269 . ...
The ability to organize and memorize the unfolding of events over time is a fundamental feature of cognition, which develops concurrently with the maturation of the brain. Nonetheless, how temporal processing evolves across the lifetime as well as the links with the underlying neural substrates remains unclear. Here, we intend to retrace the main developmental stages of brain structure, function, and cognition linked to the emergence of timing abilities. This neurodevelopmental perspective aims to untangle the puzzling trajectory of temporal processing aspects across the lifetime, paving the way to novel neuropsychological assessments and cognitive rehabilitation strategies.
... Human aging speeds up TFP [42] due to the slowdown in MR. Human activity depends on metabolism [43], therefore, MR influences TFP. ...
... A related effect is observed in the case of positive incidents, such that perceived proximity to past kindness by a friend leads to greater relational happiness and satisfaction (Wakimoto, 2011). Furthermore, research has also shown greater feelings of affect when "time flies" or some event is perceived as closer (Wittmann & Lehnhoff, 2005). Besides, greater subjective distance has been linked with lower emotional involvement (Ayduk & Kross, 2008;Bratfisch et al., 1971) and lower emotional arousal (Van Boven et al., 2010). ...
People can identify as morning types or evening types. Research has shown that evening types are generally less happy and have a lower sense of well‐being. While there is limited research in consumer psychology on chronotypes, one question may be asked: Would they gain from the experiential advantage (where people elicit greater happiness from experiential vs. material purchases) and become happier? We find that evening types, in fact, elicit lower levels of happiness from their experiential purchases compared to morning types and, in effect, feel happier from their material purchases. Furthermore, this is because of the greater subjective distance they feel from their experiential purchases. This research contributes to our understanding of long‐term happiness in a significant section of society—evening types and also calls on researchers to explore the topic of evening chronotype happiness and well‐being in greater depth from a marketing perspective.
... After participants completed the TBPM task, they were asked to indicate which task was more important for them (ongoing task, TBPM task, or both; 77% declared both tasks were equally important, 17% declared that the TBPM task was the most important task, and 6% declared that ongoing task was the most important task; exploratory analyses on subjective task importance are reported in the Supplementary Materials). Other collected measures, which are beyond the scope of the present paper, were the following: Participants indicated how they perceived time during the ongoing task baseline and the TBPM task 40 , responded to a scale of loss aversion 41 , a scale of time experience 42 , and a follow-up questionnaire to indicate whether any strategy to track the passage of time during the TBPM task had been used; specifically, participants were asked to give binary responses (yes/no) to this question, and in the case of a yes response, were asked to provide a brief explanation. Sociodemographic data were obtained from prolific. ...
Time-based prospective memory (TBPM) involves remembering to perform actions at specific times in the future. Several studies suggest that monetary consequences improve prospective remembering; however, the effect of monetary consequences on strategic time monitoring (i.e., clock-checking behaviour) in TBPM is still unknown. The present study investigated how the monetary costs on clock-checking affected TBPM accuracy and strategic time monitoring. Participants performed an ongoing lexical decision task while carrying out a TBPM task every two minutes. Motivational incentives were manipulated across three experimental conditions: a single-cost condition in which missed TBPM responses led to monetary deductions, a double-cost condition in which both missed responses and time monitoring led to monetary deductions, and a control condition with no monetary deductions. Overall, the findings indicated that monetary costs on clock-checking prompted more parsimonious strategic time monitoring behaviour, which negatively impacted TBPM accuracy. These results emphasize the importance of weighing the motivational aspects involved in strategic monitoring, shedding light on the complex relationship between clock-checking behaviour, its consequences, and TBPM performance.
... As the aging advances, the time for older people goes subjectively fastera mysterious phenomenon, which is currently of great interest not only for psychologists and neuroscientists, but also for non-scientific society. Even though the perception of time in different age categories can be assessed experimentally [12][13][14][15], the reason why the time seemingly speeds up with aging is not fully understood. Notably, the perception of time is not associated with a specific sensor system, but rather associated with the timekeeper mechanisms evolved with the brain [16]. ...
Here we consider human aging and time perception by operating with time, as a physical quantity, linked to periodic motions of the Earth. Taking into account the periodicity of Earth’s revolutions, the model of aging in a form like Fermat’s spiral has been proposed. This model demonstrates the progressive extension of the paces of aging implying accelerated accumulation of adverse changes over life, which is, as a vector, directed to the center
of the spiral. In this regard, an internal clock underpinning time perception that was evolved with life under the permanent influence of the Earth’s motion events can accelerate with aging presumably due to progressive extension of the paces of aging.
The aim of this article is to clarify and describe the relationships between levels of personality functioning, pathological personality traits from the borderline and narcissistic functioning, and time perspective (TP). The study was conducted online, and 210 participants completed eight questionnaires: Inventory of Personality Organization, Boredom Proneness Scale, Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, Depressive Experience Questionnaire, and Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. The results reveal that the pathological personality functioning was consistently associated with a deviation on each dimension of TP and the Deviation from the Balanced Time Perspective (DBTP) while the higher functioning personality indicator was associated with a balanced time perspective. When accounting for all traits in the regression, pathological personality traits predicted variance of Past-Negative, Present-Hedonistic, Present-Fatalistic, and the DBTP. Borderline and narcissistic traits were associated with the DBTP but demonstrated different time perspective profiles. Borderline traits showed an overall negative TP with a tendency to seek quick and intense pleasure in the present with no regards toward the future. These results show that there can be TP profile differences between borderline personalities, depending on their specific trait profile. Impulsivity plays an important role in how borderline personalities cope with their negative temporalities. Vulnerable narcissism is characterized by a negative past with the ability to recruit the future, while grandiose narcissism denotes an overall more balanced time perspective than their vulnerable counterpart.
Purpose or Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the potential relationship between the time estimation
and psychological distress in patients with solid tumors prior to starting radiotherapy.
Materials and Methods: In this multicenter study were included a total of 344 patients with solid tumors (197 with
and 147 without metastatic disease). The time estimation was assessed by evaluating each subjects prospective
estimation of how fast 1 min passed compared to the actual time. The median value (35sec) of subjective
perception of time was used to group cases into two categories for experience of time. We used the National
Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer at the beginning of treatment to determine the levels of
distress, where it measures distress on a scale from 0 to 10. Patients scoring 4 or above (73.5 %) were regarded as
having high levels of distress.
Results: The time estimation distributions significantly changed according to the level of distress. ROC analysis
revealed that at the optimal cut off value of time estimation, patients with low and high distress levels can be
discriminated with an AUC = 0.80 (95 % CI: 0.75– 0.85, p < 0.001) and with a sensitivity of 77.8 % and
specificity of 73.3 %. In a multivariate logistic regression model, fast time estimation was an independent predictor
of high levels of distress (OR 0.136; 95 % CI, 0.072–––0.256, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Time estimation is a novel potent indicator of high levels of distress in cancer patients prior starting
of radiotherapy.
Time perception is inherently subjective and malleable. We experience a wide range of time scales, from less than a second to decades. In addition, our perception of time can be affected by our attentional and emotional states. Previous psychological and neuroimaging studies have used several paradigms and methods to probe factors that influence time perception. Considering these factors facilitates approaches to improve time management and to enhance sensory experiences. This Collection of time perception studies includes reports that focus on stimulus property, physiological state, cross-modal interaction, attention, learning, age, and environment. These findings help to illuminate the complex mechanisms of time perception.
The wide-ranging disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic altered the experiences of place, technology, time, and school for students. This book explores how students’ responses to these extraordinary times shaped their identities as learners and writers, as well as their perceptions of education.
This book traces the voices of a diverse group of university students, from first-year to doctoral students, over the first two years of the pandemic. Students discussed the effects of having their homes forced to serve as classrooms, work, and living spaces, as they also navigated much of school and life through their digital screens. The affective and embodied experiences of this disruption and uncertainty, and the memories and narratives constructed from those experiences, challenged and remade students’ relationships with place, digital media, and school itself. Understanding students’ perceptions of these times has implications for imagining innovative and empathetic approaches to literacy and learning going forward.
In a time when disruptions, including but not limited to the pandemic, continue to ripple and resonate through education and culture, this book provides important insights for researchers and teachers in literacy and writing studies, education, media studies, and any seeking a better understanding of students and learning in this precarious age.
2025 recipient of the Divergent Publication Award for Excellence in Literacy in a Digital Age Research from the Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age
Differences in duration judgments made by younger and older adults were reviewed. Previous research is unclear about whether such differences exist and, if so, how they may be explained. The meta-analyses revealed substantial age-related differences. Older adults gave larger verbal estimates and made shorter productions of duration than did younger adults. There were no age-related differences in reproduction of duration or in psychophysical slope relating judged and target duration. Older adults’ duration estimates were more variable than were those of younger ones. Findings are discussed in terms of pacemaker rate and attentional resources. An explanation regarding divided attention between nontemporal and temporal information processing best explains the findings.
As part of a larger study examining attribution differences in boredom, the effect of Boredom Proneness on perception of time passage was investigated in 110 undergraduates completing a tedious number-circling task. Highly boredom-prone individuals perceived time as passing more slowly during the task than low boredom-prone persons, but the two groups did not differ in their objective or chronometric time-passage estimates. The findings support the contention that depressed affect produces a subjective slowing of time but does not alter the perception of objective passage of chronometric time.
Younger and older participants performed a time reproduction task and a time production task in a counting and a concurrent reading condition. They were also administered a reaction time task and some memory tests. The results showed no difference between the two age groups in the counting condition. By contrast, in the concurrent reading condition, both age groups reproduced shorter durations and produced longer durations than the actual time, and both of these effects were significantly amplified with age. Moreover, processing speed was slower, and memory scores were poorer in the older than in the younger adults. Most importantly, the results revealed that age-related working memory limitations better accounted for the shorter reproductions with aging whereas age-related slower processing speed better accounted for the longer productions with aging.
Three hypotheses on changes in the time perspective of elderly people and their behavioral consequences are discussed: firstly, Kuhlen's hypothesis of an increasing sensitivity for the passing of time with increasing age, secondly that of a de-differentiation of future time perspective in old age, and finally the thesis that only normative-prescriptive approaches are appropriate in the study of coping with finitude. The three hypotheses are either rejected or modified on the basis of research data. Time perspective in old age is the outcome of continuous life-long changes and adaptations in the temporal and social orientation of man.
Although variations in time experience in specific health-illness situations have been documented, the information has not been systematically described. This is due in part to lack of reliable and valid measurement of time experience. This article, which reports the development and testing of Time Experience Scales (TES) in a sample of healthy adults, represents preliminary work in the identification of temporal experience in ill persons. Subjective time experience was defined as thoughts and feelings about the temporal frame in which life events occur. Semantic differential and Likert scale items indicated four conceptual dimensions of subjective time experience. A mail questionnaire was distributed to a purposive sample of community-based healthy adults. Data were analyzed separately for men (n = 587) and women (n = 475). Factor analysis methods resulted in the emergence of six robust empirical factors: meaning, fast tempo, slow tempo, attention to death, future orientation, and past orientation. Product moment correlations between scales (.01 to .45) indicated the validity, and coefficient alpha (.68 to .88) the reliability of measurement, using the factors. Results suggest that at least six distinct temporal experiences help people assign order, rhythm, and meaning to life events, thereby creating a continuing and optimal life story. Further reliability and validity testing is suggested.
The present study explored the relationship between participants' level of anxiety about death and both their sense of purposefulness in life and their personal experience of time controlling for the effects of participants' general anxiety and social desirability set. Participants were 145 women aged sixty to eighty-five, members of senior citizens clubs in suburban New Jersey, who agreed to complete a booklet of questionnaires at home and return them anonymously. As hypothesized, respondents high in measured death anxiety were found to be more likely to express less sense of purposefulness to their lives, a sense that time is moving forward, a feeling of being harassed and pressured by the passage of time, an experienced discontinuity and lack of direction in their lives, an inclination to procrastinate and be inefficient in their use of time, and a reported disposition towards being inconsistent. For the most part, the relationship between death anxiety and the other variables was found to hold even when the effects of general anxiety and social desirability were partialed out.
In recent empirical research on endogenous depression, time estimation has frequently been discussed in the context of chronopathological reflections, without empirical evidence of the postulated correlations between changes in speed of the "internal clock" and indicators of time estimation. In three single case studies, we looked for potential correlations between rhythmic processes (especially diurnal mood variations) and time estimations by primary depressive patients. Though our studies suggest a correlation between retardation and time estimation in patients with clear changes (trends) in the depressive mood, our results do not support any chronopathological speculations. According to our results, correlations between time estimation and retardation or depressive mood are dependent on distinct trends and not on rhythmic patterns.