- US neuroscientist says new experiences makes time appear to last longer
- He says time goes slowly when you’re younger because ‘everything is new’
- Key to making weekends feel longer is to undertake new activities
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If you feel like your bank holiday weekend whizzed by, there is a simple trick to try which might make the next one seem a little longer.
Experiencing new things makes us think that time has lasted longer than it really did, according to a brain specialist.
Neuroscientist David Eagleman, a professor at Stanford University, said that novel experiences like a new place or new activity make it seem like time is stretching out.
Neuroscientist David Eagleman, a professor at Stanford University, said that novel experiences like a new place or new activity make it seem like time is stretching out
Getting away for the weekend seems longer than spending time at home and exploring a new neighbourhood feels like it takes more time than staying indoors, he said.
Even a weekend holed up inside with a good book – so long as it is a new one – will seem like you have been mentally away for longer than you have.
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Professor Eagleman said that the phenomenon exists because the the brain is more focused on collecting unfamiliar information into a memory.
Speaking to science blog Science of Us, he said: ‘When you go and experience something novel, it seems to have lasted longer.
The only catch is that the effect only happens in hindsight so you have to get the end of your holiday to feel that you really got the most out of it
He said: ‘It’s why time seems to fly by so much faster as an adult then it did when you were young.
‘When you’re a kid, everything is novel and you’re laying down new memories about it’.
Professor Eagleman, whose book The Brain: The Story of You explores the mysteries of the brain, said that the phenomenon stays with us our whole lives.
He said: ‘When you look back at the end of a childhood summer, it seems to have taken a long time because you remember this and that, this new thing, learning that, experiencing that.
‘But when you’re older, you’ve sort of seen all the patterns before’.
The only catch is that the effect only happens in hindsight so you have to get the end of your holiday to feel that you really got the most out of it.
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