The Logarithmic Time Perception Hypothesis

Summary

Time scarcer? Years getting shorter? Want an explanation? Logtime is the cognitive hypothesis that our age is our basis for estimating time intervals, resulting in a perceived shrinking of our years as we grow older. A simple mathematical analysis shows that our time perception should be logarithmic, giving us a subjective scale of life very different from that of the calendar. Our perception of aging seems to follow the same (Weber-Fechner) law as our perception of physical stimuli. Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way. ...You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. ...Every year is getting shorter; never seem to find the time... -- "Time" from The Dark Side of the Moon: Pink Floyd When you've grown up, my dears, and are as old as I, you'll often ponder on the years that roll so swiftly by, my dears, that roll so swiftly by... -- "Toyland" from Babes in Toyland: Glen MacDonough & Victor Herbert Problems of Time Perception It's common knowledge that our perception of the passage of time can be influenced by psychological factors: time flies when we're busy, but really drags when we're waiting. (Stare at a clock and wait for a minute to pass. Or wait for the commercials to end, or for Windows to load!) These are generally short term experiences, but what of long periods of time such as years? Is there something other than transient psychological factors affecting our time perception? We usually think about the years of our lives in terms of decades: our teens, twenties, thirties, etc. This is an implicitly linear view: that all our years are equal; that clock time is our time, through which we move at a uniform pace. This simple picture, however, doesn't square with our perceptions as we age. By our middle years, at least, most of us have become aware that something is amiss, that a very slow but profound change has been sneaking u...