Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Language
English
Publication Date
1-1-2007
Journal
PLoS One
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0001295
PMID
18074019
PMCID
PMC2110887
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
December 2007
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Abstract
Observers commonly report that time seems to have moved in slow motion during a life-threatening event. It is unknown whether this is a function of increased time resolution during the event, or instead an illusion of remembering an emotionally salient event. Using a hand-held device to measure speed of visual perception, participants experienced free fall for 31 m before landing safely in a net. We found no evidence of increased temporal resolution, in apparent conflict with the fact that participants retrospectively estimated their own fall to last 36% longer than others' falls. The duration dilation during a frightening event, and the lack of concomitant increase in temporal resolution, indicate that subjective time is not a single entity that speeds or slows, but instead is composed of separable subcomponents. Our findings suggest that time-slowing is a function of recollection, not perception: a richer encoding of memory may cause a salient event to appear, retrospectively, as though it lasted longer.
Keywords
Fear, Humans, Retrospective Studies, Time Factors
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Chess Stetson, Matthew P Fiesta, and David M Eagleman, "Does Time Really Slow Down During A Frightening Event?" (2007). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 362.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthmed_docs/362