which was Sharon, Lois & Bram.

Sharon, Lois & Bram

That felt like eternity, but as I've gotten older, everything seems to have sped up.

那感覺很久 但當我長大以後 一切都好像快了起來

Time is going much faster. That's something virtually everyone agrees upon.

時間過得快了很多 這是一個無庸置疑的事實

"Yeah, I feel like- I feel like it does."

對 我也有同感

"Oh man, so much."

噢 太多了

"Each year sort of gets faster and faster."

每一年都好像過得更快的

But why is this? Is it just an illusion or are there good scientific reasons why time appears to go faster

但為什麼會這樣 到底這是錯覺 還是有一套科學理論能解釋為什麼時間過得愈來愈快?

as we get older?

當我們年紀更大?

Well, I'm working with the National Geographic Channel's Brain Games, a show that explores

好!我在跟國家地理頻道的節目--"Brain Games"合作

the inner workings of the human mind through experiments and interactive games to test out some

一個透過實驗及互動遊戲解釋人類心理內部運作

theories about why this actually occurs.

及藉此證明一些相關的理論的節目

There is a reasonable sounding argument that says each year goes faster because it makes up a smaller fraction

這裡有個聽起來不錯的假設表達出這是因為每一年在你的人生中佔的比例會

of your entire life.

愈來愈少

"Let's say I was only 20. One year is only 1/20th of my age. But when I'm 67, one year is 1/67th of my age."

這樣 當我20歲的時候 一年是我人生中的二十分之一 但當我六十七歲的時候 一年已經是我人生中的六十七分之一

This graph shows one year as a percentage of your life at each age.

這圖像表達出每年在你一生中佔的百分比

But what I find weird about this is if you add up the area underneath the curve, you'll find that you've already

但我發現到一個奇怪地方關於曲線中急速下降的地方

lived half of the total by age 6.

你會發現六歲以前佔的百分比已經超過整體一半

So, I really don't think this is how our brains perceive time.

所以 我便不覺得我們的腦袋不是這樣對待時間的

You really think that, like, a day now is-

你真的覺得 ... 一天現在是...

"Of course not." [laughter]

當然不是

I think there are better reasons why time appears to speed up as we get older.

我覺得應該有一個更好的原因來解釋為什麼時間會愈走愈快

So I've come to Venice Beach to find two groups of people: The older and younger

所以我來到Venice沙灘找來兩群人 一群較年輕 另一群沒這麼年輕的

to see if their perceptions of time differ.

來觀察一下他們對時間的感知

So what I want to do is I want to set my timer going and without counting,

所以我想做的是我在一邊計時

you tell me when you think a minute is up.

你來告訴我一分鐘過去了沒

"Let's go."

好吧

Start.

開始

"Okay."

好

Everywhere around the world, when this experiment is performed, older people typically overestimate

當這個實驗在世界各地進行時 較老的人都會低估了一分鐘的速度

while younger people measure it quite accurately.

而年青人則比較準確

"Alright, probably stop?"

好 應該停了?

"Yep."

好

Wooo, one minute, two seconds.

WOOO 一分鐘零二秒

A minute and two seconds.

一分鐘零二秒

A minute and five.

一分鐘零五秒

As we get older, the rate at which our neurons fire, or our neuron conduction velocity, it decreases.

當我們更老 我們的神經元傳達速率便會下降

And you can think of this firing rate a little bit like an internal clock.

你可以將神經元傳達速率想像成一個內部小型的時鐘

And so, if our internal clock is slowing down, that would make everything else, external time,

因而 當我們的時鐘開始慢下來 這會令外面世界的時鐘

seem to be speeding up.

看起來更快

"I'm going to tell you the time."

我會跟你說那個時間

Now?

現在?

"Now."

現在

"One minute."

一分鐘

That's it? That was one minute?

就是這樣?已經一分鐘?

"One minute."

一分鐘

Minute, seventeen seconds.

一分鐘十七秒

"Not bad, right?"

還可以吧?

Not bad.

不差啊

"I thought I'd be a lot closer actually, but I guess I wasn't."

事實上我以為我會更接近 但我沒有

Do you want to know what it really was?

你真的想知過去了多久?

One minute forty seven.

一分四十七秒

"No way, it was almost two minutes? It was actually almost two minutes."

沒可能!這是接近兩分鐘 -這是接近兩分鐘

"It really is amazing how fast time flies by, it really is."

時間流逝得這麼快真神奇

Our sense of time, or chronoception, is not like one of the standard five senses. It has no specialized

我們對時間的感知並不像五種感官有獨立的感覺細胞

receptor cells and it does not appear to be localized in just one part of the brain.

而大腦又沒有一個特定區域去感覺時間

Perhaps this suggests that it's not one coherent thing at all.

也許這表示時間不是一件能理解的事

But it does seem that our perception of time is very fundamental.

但我們對時間的感知看起來也很基本

Studies of rats have shown that even with their neocortex removed - that is, the higher order thinking

在老鼠實驗中發現即使它們的新皮層被切除 即是執行較高級指令的部分

part of their brains- They are still able to learn how to time forty seconds accurately.

它們都還能學懂準確地數到四十秒

That's quite remarkable, and it suggests our sense of time evolved early and is one of the fundamental

這也挺特別的 這表示出我們對時間的感知很早就進化出來了，是一個在我們大腦中

functions of the brain.

很基本的功能

But that doesn't mean out brains always represent time faithfully.

但這也不代表我們的大腦永遠都準確傳達時間

For example, have you noticed that really good movies seem to go by much faster than they actually are?

舉例說 你有沒有留意過一部你喜歡的電影會更快結束?

Or do you notice that your vacations fly by? There are good reasons for this.

又或者是你的假期很快的流逝? 這有個很好的解釋

When we're focused on something, we don't notice that time is passing and that makes them feel in the moment

當我們專注於一件事情時 我們不會留意時間的流逝 而這會令當下感覺

shorter than they actually are.

時間過得更短

At its best, this results in a mental state called "flow". This can happen when playing sports or video games

這種現象的極致稱為"心流" 這會發生在我們運動,玩電玩

or artists when they're fully engrossed in their work or people meditating.

當藝術家全神貫注於自己的工作又或者當人冥想的時候

So I would argue another reason time speeds up as we age is because we are more often engrossed in

所以我認為長大後時間似乎變快的另一個原因是因為我們經常全神貫注於

what we're doing.

我們在做的事

Another thing that appears to make time speed up is repetition. I'm going to show you a series of images

另一種會令時間感覺更快的是重複 我會展示出一系列的圖片

and I want you to consider how long each one appears on the screen.

我讓你想一想每一幅圖片出現了多久

Are you ready?

準備好?

Go.

開始!

So which one appeared to last the longest? If you're like most people, you'd probably say the dog.

所以 你覺得哪一幅出現得最久?如果你像大部分的人 你應該會覺得是狗

But all of those images actually appeared on screen fore the same length of time. The dog seemed longer

但其實每張照片出現的時間都一樣 狗的圖片看似停留比較久

because it was novel and therefore, your brain had to invest more energy in processing it.

因為他很新鮮 你的腦袋會有更多的興趣去處理它

What's remarkable is that our sense of how long something is - or subjective duration-

值得一提的是我們的感覺對某件事多久 或維持了多久

It correlates highly with how much energy we're using in our brains. Now, if you study how much energy people

這關乎我們的大腦用了多少能量 現在如果你在研究

use in their brains over the course of their lifetime, you'll find that it peaks around age five.

人在一生中用最多能量於腦袋的話 你會發現那大約在五歲的時候

If you think about it, this kind of makes sense because when you're a kid, almost everything is novel to you.

你想想 這是挺合理的 因為小時候一切對你來說都是新鮮的

And therefore, your brain needs to use more energy, fully 66% of your resting energy intake.

因此你的大腦需要使用你攝取的能量的足足66%

That's used by the brain because of all the novel experiences and that must, at least in part,

這用於大腦是因為所有新鮮的經驗 這至少能夠部分

explain why time appears to go more slowly.

解釋了為什麼時間過得更慢

So, what can we do to slow time down? Well, studies have shown that being afraid increases our perception

所以我們可以怎樣使時間慢下來? 研究指出害怕會使我們對時間的

of time.

感知放慢

When arachnophobes were forced to stare at spiders for 45 seconds - Yes, this is a real experiment -

當蜘蛛恐懼症的人要面對蜘蛛45秒 對 這是一個真的實驗

Those arachnophobes judged that experience as lasting much longer than 45 seconds,

蜘蛛恐懼症的人們判斷那段時間超過45秒

as you would kind of expect.

這結果也是意料之中的

Plus, experiments involving skydivers or people falling showed that they judged their experience to last

還有實驗涉及到跳傘或下墜中的人 他們也判斷實驗

much longer than it actually is.

比實際上過得更慢

Another time when time appears to pass slowly is when you're bored.

其他時間過得慢的時候就是你悶的時候

"You know, when you're waiting and waiting, that's all you think about, so it seems like time drags forever."

你知道嗎?當你等了又等的時候你在想的就只有等 所以時間就像過了很久

Since there is so little to focus on, you are acutely aware of just how much time is passing,

當你沒有專注在任何東西 你就只會留意時間在過去

and so these boring moments drag on and on.

這些無聊的場面就好像永遠不會結束

So, if you really want to slow down your experience of time, you could scare yourself, take up extreme sports,

所以如果你真的想令自己對時間的感知減慢 你可以嚇你自己 進行極限運動

get into accidents and intersperse all of that with periods of boredom.

走進意外和用一些無聊的時刻來點綴

But this viewpoint ignores one important fact, which is that we don't experience time as just one thing.

但這忽略了一個重要的事實 那就是我們不是將時間只判斷為一件事

We think about time as it passe, but also as it has passed before, when we remember it.

我們將時間理解為流逝 但亦可倒轉 就是當我們回想的時候

And those two ways of looking at time, they don't align.

這兩個方向去看待時間並不對稱

So for example, holidays, they feel like they go by really fast, but when you think back upon them,

舉例說假期 這感覺起來過得非常快 但當你回想起的時候

they last a long time.

便會是一段長時間

That's because you had a lot of novel experiences and your brain formed a lot of memories.

那是因為假期中有很多全新的經歷在你的大腦中形成了很多的記憶

And it judges the duration of that vacation by the number of memories that were formed.

大腦用形成記憶的多寡來判斷時間的長短

All that novelty means lots of memories means it feels like it took a long time, but in the moment, it felt fast.

意思就是許多的記憶會讓你感覺過得很久 但當下你會覺得過得很快

This is the paradox, the great paradox, of our perception of time.

這是一個對於時間感知的衝突 一個很大的衝突

If you want time to go slowly, there are a lot of things you can expose yourself to that will slow time down,

如果你想時間過得慢點 可以利用很多方法而使時間過得更慢

but they won't necessarily be pleasant.

但他們不一定要是愉快的

So maybe the happiest life and the longest remembered life is one where time really seems to fly.

所以可能最開心和記憶中最充實的人生 就是你覺得當下過得很快的一生

It's like Einstein said, "Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it'll feel like an hour.

正如愛因斯坦所說"將你的手放在火爐上一分鐘感覺上就像過了一小時"

But sit next to a pretty girl for an hour and it'll feel like a minute."

但坐在一個漂亮的女孩旁邊一小時就像只坐了一分鐘

So, what would you like your life to feel like?

所以你想要你的人生感覺起來是怎樣的?

I want to thank the National Geographic Channel for sponsoring this episode of Veritasium.

我想感謝國家地理頻道贊助了集的Veritasium

And if you want to introduce more novelty into your life, than you should check out their series, "Brain Games"

還有如果你想將更多新鮮事進入你的生命 請觀看他們的節目--"Brain Games"("大腦遊戲")

The new season begins February 14th at 9/8 Central. And this season, they have an episode about

新一季在二月十四日在9/8 這一季他們會有一集關於

all of your senses, including your sense of time, chronoception.

你所有的感官 包括你對時間的感覺

So if you want to find out more, than check out the link to their website in the description.

所以如果你想看到更多相關內容 那就瀏覽他們在備注中的網址吧

And thank you for watching.

謝謝收看

Did that feel like that lasted long?

你覺得這過得很久嗎?