Time Consciousness – Anya Vaish
Time consciousness, also known as felt time, inner time, perceived time, and subjective time, refers to how each individual has an awareness of time and its progression. It describes how individuals perceive time as a continuous flow rather than isolated moments. It generally focuses on experiencing time in shorter durations, as it focuses on the present moment, or the “now”. Time consciousness relies on several factors, including the various environments that people interact with daily and the five senses, which are sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Changes in brain activity and fluctuations of the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic systems that respectively heighten and reduce the body’s sensory input, such as during periods of adrenaline or relaxation, can also influence the internal clock by stretching and compressing body time. Time consciousness can be explored through understanding the temporal order threshold, which suggests that our perceptions are not simultaneous depending on our sense perception. For example, younger individuals tend to have a different time consciousness than older individuals because the temporal order threshold varies across ages. Time consciousness is
closely related to other time-related concepts, including temporal perception (our ability to perceive and measure the passage of time), temporal orientation (our awareness of the past, present, and future), temporal attitude (our emotional and evaluative stance toward time), and temporal structuring (how we organize our activities and routines in time). Though time consciousness is a fundamental aspect of human cognition and plays a crucial role in our lives, there is still no clear universal consensus on its definition.
closely related to other time-related concepts, including temporal perception (our ability to perceive and measure the passage of time), temporal orientation (our awareness of the past, present, and future), temporal attitude (our emotional and evaluative stance toward time), and temporal structuring (how we organize our activities and routines in time). Though time consciousness is a fundamental aspect of human cognition and plays a crucial role in our lives, there is still no clear universal consensus on its definition.
References:
Grondin, Simon. The Perception of Time: Your Questions Answered. Routledge, 2020.
Wittmann, Marc and Erik Butler. Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time. TheMIT Press, 2016. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/book/46969.
Wolff, Tobias. “Bullet in the Brain.” The New Yorker, 17 Sept. 1995.
