My name is Matt and for the next several moments, you are going to listen to me.

我叫麥特，接下來的時間，你們要聽我說。

Mwah, ha, ha, ha, ha.

哇，哈哈哈哈。

Sorry. I'm just joking.

抱歉，我是開玩笑的。

This is my normal voice.

這才是我正常的聲音。

Have you ever taken direction from a mysterious voice on the computer before?

你曾經按照電腦發出的神秘語音操作指令嗎？

No? Perfect!

沒有？太棒了！

I want to try an experiment with you, but I can't tell you what that experiment entails because if I do, it won't work.

我要請你做個實驗，但我不能告訴你實驗的目的，因為如果講了，就沒效了。

You'll just have to trust me.

你只需要相信我。

This will all make sense soon, hopefully.

你很快就會知道為什麼要這麼做了，希望如此 。

If you're sitting down, stand up from your chair and take a step back.

如果你正坐著，那就站起來，然後退一步。

In a moment, I'm going to have you twirl around, so give yourself a bit of space.

接下來，我會請你原地轉圈，所以你需要騰出一點空間。

Need to move some furniture around?

需要把傢俱搬開嗎？

Take your time. I'll wait.

慢慢來，我等你。

On the count of three, you're gonna start hopping on one foot.

當我數到三，請你開始單腳跳。

Are you ready?

準備好了嗎？

One, two, three!

一、二、三！

Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop.

跳、跳、跳、跳、跳

Nice work!

很好！

Okay, while you're still hopping, I now want you to begin barking like a dog.

好，在你跳的同時，請你學狗叫 。

Ruff, ruff; ruff, ruff; ruff, ruff.

汪、汪、汪、汪、 汪、汪

Wow, that's quite a bark!

哇！真的很像耶！

And a few more.

好，再來幾次。

Ruff, ruff, ruff.

汪、汪、汪

And three, two, one, stop!

三、二、一，停！

Feel free to relax and sit back down.

好，請坐下吧。

Now, I want you to think about how much time passed between the moment I said, "Go!" and you began hopping on one foot to the moment I said, "Stop!"

現在我要你回想：從我說「跳」到「停」為止，你花了多久的時間單腳跳。

Take a guess.

猜猜看。

I'm looking for an exact number of seconds or minutes.

我要確切的幾分或幾秒。

Now, with a pen and paper, write that number down.

用紙筆寫下來吧。

All done?

好了嗎？

The exact time was actually 26 seconds.

你其實只花了 26 秒。

Did you overestimate?

你多估了嗎？

Chances are that you did. So, what was the culprit?

有很大的機率你真的多估了。那是什麼害你多估了呢？

The culprit was time perception.

是時間知覺。

Although we can make shockingly precise time estimates, when we experience something new, unusual, or dynamic, like hopping on one foot while taking instructions from a voice on the computer,

縱使我們有精準估測時間的驚人能力，當我們體驗一些新穎、不尋常的事物，或動態活動，例如當我們聽從電腦語音指令單腳跳，

or, say, jumping out of an airplane, we often miscalculate how much time has passed.

或從飛機上一躍而下時，我們常常錯估花了多少時間。

Meaning, if you bungee jumps for the first time, your fall to the bottom may seem like it lasted for 10 seconds, while the recorded time may actually show that the jump only lasted for 5.

就像第一次高空彈跳時，從起跳到最低點，感覺你花了十秒鐘，但實際上紀錄的時間可能只有五秒。

The reason for this difference is unlike your body's physical drop to the bottom, your brain's perception of time does not follow a straight line between two points.

這時間差的原因︰不同於身體墜落的知覺，你的腦的時間知覺並不是依循兩點間的直線距離。

Some scientists even believe your brain follows more of a curved path that is dependent on the amount of information you take in as you fall downwards.

有些科學家甚至認為腦依循的路徑是條彎曲的，那路徑取決於你向下墜落時所接收的資訊量。

For example, David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, believes time perception is heavily influenced by the number of memories and data you record onto your brain.

例如，醫學院腦神經科學家大衛·伊果曼貝勒相信，時間知覺深受腦袋記錄下的記憶和數據量的影響。

When you have a new experience, like jumping off a high dive for the first time, your senses are heightened.

當你經歷全新的體驗，例如第一次高空跳水，你的知覺將更加敏銳。

You're taking in more details about sights, sounds, and smells than you normally would.

你接收的視覺、聽覺與嗅覺細節比平時還要多。

And you store more data onto your brain in the form of memories.

而且你會以記憶的形式，在腦裡儲存更多的資訊。

So, the more data you store in your brain, like the smell of chlorine as you leapt from the high dive or the color of the water, the longer your perception of that experience.

所以，當你在腦裡儲存更多的資訊，像是高空跳水躍下時氯的氣味，或是水的顏色，你對那經驗的時間知覺將會更長。

Meaning, the number of memories and data you record on your brain has a direct impact on how long you believe that experience to have lasted.

也就是說，存在腦的記憶與資訊的量，對於你認為那經驗存續的時間長短有直接的影響。

Have you ever heard a person recount what it's like to be in a car accident?

你曾聽過有人重新估算一場車禍發生的時間嗎？

Although automotive accidents typically last seconds, those involved often say they felt the accident lasted far longer.

儘管一般車禍都在幾秒鐘內發生，但車禍當事人通常都會說，他們覺得車禍發生時間遠比幾秒鐘來的更久。

Time perception can also account for why your childhood may have seemed to have lasted forever.

時間知覺也說明了為何你的童年時光彷彿是永恆的。

By adulthood, a year can slip by in a heartbeat, but children record more data onto their brains.

成年之後，一年可以像一下心跳一樣短暫，但孩童在腦裡紀錄更多的資訊 。

This occurs because many of the experiences we have as children are new and unfamiliar to us.

這是因為許多孩提時的經驗都是前所未有的。

The stack of encoded memories on your brain is so dense that reading them back makes you believe your experiences must have taken forever.

在腦裡那些解碼的大量記憶是如此稠密，讓你回溯那些記憶時，覺得那些經歷像永遠一樣那麼久。

Additionally, when you're 5 years old, one year is 1/5 of your life.

再者，當你五歲時，一年是你 1/5 的人生。

But, when you're 25, one year makes up 1/25, further altering your perception of time.

但是，當你 25 歲，一年只佔 1/25，這更加地改變了你對時間的感覺。

And, if you're an adult, think about a trip that you may have taken to a far-away land for the first time.

如果你是成人，回想你第一次去一個遙遠國度的旅行時，

Didn't those two weeks you spent exploring your surroundings seem to have lasted far longer than 14 days?

是不是覺得你探索周遭環境的那兩週似乎比 14 天來得更長呢？

Though time perception is rooted in both hard science and theory, it provides a great lesson for us on how to live our lives.

儘管時間知覺源自於自然科學與學說，但它給我們上了寶貴的一課——如何度過我們的人生。

I'm sure you've all heard that a person shouldn't sit on a couch and let life pass them by.

我相信你們都聽過不要虛擲光陰。

Well, time perception tells us why that is.

而時間知覺告訴了我們其中緣由。

If you get up and engage with the world and have new experiences, and maybe even hop around on one foot and bark like a dog, you will literally perceive your own life to have lasted for a longer period of time.

如果你起身與世界互動、擁有新的體驗，也許來個單腳跳和學狗叫，你就會覺得人生比實際時間還要長。