Ever felt like time stands still while you’re waiting for something, or that as you get older, the years slip through your fingertips with much more ease? With swaths of tech around us and virtually everything being available on demand, it’s a very real possibility that our body clocks and perception of time have changed.
可曾在等人的时候觉得时间仿佛停滞不前？或是感到年纪越大，光阴就越容易从指尖溜走？我们被各种酷炫科技包围着，无论想要什么都能伸手即来，而我们的生物钟和时间感很有可能也正因此发生了改变。
Time Doesn’t Fly
时间不会飞
As the adage goes, “Time flies when we’re having fun”. In reality, though, we know fully well that it does not. Nevertheless, psychologist James J. Kellaris conducted his own experiment to find out whether there’s any truth to the aphorism. Kellaris had people listen to a piece of music they liked, and when he later asked them how much time they thought had passed, the listeners’ estimates were usually longer.
一句谚语说得好：”欢乐光阴去如飞“。而现实生活中，我们都明白，事实并非如此。不过，心理学家詹姆斯·J·克拉李斯(James J. Kellaris)开展了一项实验，试图探寻这句谚语是否某种程度上真有其事。克拉李斯让人们听一曲自己喜欢的音乐，然后问他们觉得过去了多长时间，结果，这些被试估计的时间往往偏长。
Kellaris suggested that when we’re enjoying ourselves, we pay more attention to the event and our minds perceive that as extra time. That’s how we get the saying ‘Lost in the music’. On the other hand, the adage might lend itself to a self-fulfilling prophecy: if we believe that time is meant to fly when we’re having fun, we’re more likely to think we’re enjoying ourselves when it passes faster.
克拉李斯提出观点认为，我们在自得其乐时，会对手头的事情给予更多的关注，而我们的大脑将之处理为额外的时间。这也就是为什么会有”迷失在音乐里“的说法了。另一方面，上面提到的这句谚语可能本身就是一个自证预言：如果我们坚信欢乐的时光一定过得飞快，那么当我们感到时间过得飞快的时候，也更容易认为自己过得开心。
We’re Tricked by Tech
高科技的时间骗局
As if we didn’t warp time enough on our own, a recent study has suggested that technology, too, is capable of altering our perception of time. In a world where we lead virtual and physical lives, it is hardly surprising that social media sites lend themselves to becoming veritable time sucks. A 2012 survey carried out by the clever folks at Cisco revealed that 60% of 18-30 year-olds check their smartphones compulsively for updates, with each glance taking with it bits and pieces of the day.
好像光靠我们自己扭曲时间还不够一样，最近一项研究发现，科技同样能够改变我们的时间感。当下这个世界，人们除了在为现实生活奔波之外，还拥有着虚拟人生，因此，社交网站成为名符其实的时间陷阱，也就毫不意外了。思科电子公司的聪明员工们在2012年进行了一项调查，他们发现，18岁到30岁的人群中，有60%会强迫性地打开智能手机查看社交网站更新，而时间就在这“看一眼，再看一眼”的过程中一点点消失了。
Stanford University psychologist Dr. Phillip Zimbardo thinks that this newfound obsession with the ‘right now’ moment has altered our idea of time. Having so much information readily available at out fingertips speeds up our internal clock. Likewise, each time we check Facebook or log in to Twitter, we subconsciously note the time, making us more aware of how much of it has passed in our day-to-day habits. Talking to the Huffington Post, Zimbardo said that “Technology makes us impatient for anything that takes more than seconds to achieve.”
斯坦福心理学家菲利普·津巴多(Phillp Zimbardo)博士认为，这种新兴的对“当下”时间的痴迷改变了我们的时间观念。触手可及的大量信息拨快了我们体内的时钟。而且，我们每刷一次脸书或者微博，都会潜意识地注意一下时间，从而让我们更强烈地意识到日常习惯行为会消磨多少光阴。在赫芬顿邮报(Huffington Post) 的采访中，津巴多说道：“科技让我们丧失了耐心，多等待几秒钟都受不了。”
Moving in Slow Motion
慢动作运动
We’ve all seen thrillers where actors walk away from an explosion in slow motion for dramatic effect, but these slow-mo moments might also be experienced outside the of the silver screen. In life-threatening or dangerous situations, people often say that time seems to slow down, and there’s a fairly logical reason why.
我们都在电影里看到过这样的刺激场景，演员们慢动作逃离爆炸现场，镜头充满戏剧性。不过在银幕之外，我们同样能体验到类似的“慢动作”时间。人们总是说，在危及生命的险要关头会感到时间的脚步都慢下来了，这其中有一种很合逻辑的解释。
In 2007, a group of psychologists carried out a test where people fell 50 meters into a safety net and then were asked about their experience. Aside from being obviously terrified, researchers found that the test subjects recalled the experience as longer that it actually was, largely due to the way our bodies respond to danger. The adrenaline we produce allows us to concentrate better when in a life-threatening situation so that we can stay alive. As a result, everything seems to pass in slow motion because we remember far more details over a short period of time.
2007年，一群心理学家进行了一项实验，他们让实验参加者从50米高空跳下来，落在一个安全网内，然后让他们描述自己的体验。被试们明显都被吓坏了，不过，研究者还发现，他们记忆中整个下落过程所花的时间要比实际时间长，其中很大一部分原因在于我们身体面对危险时的反应。危险处境下，我们体内分泌的肾上腺素让自己注意力更集中，从而保证了我们的生命安全。于是，周围的一切仿佛都在做慢动作运动，因为我们在短短的时间内记住了比平时多得多的细节。
Speeding Up With Age
年纪越大，时间越快
It’s commonly said that as we get older, time passes in the “blink of an eye”. Aside from the part that technology plays in speeding up our understanding of time, another factor affects our perception of time as we get older, and it’s something we can’t really change.
人们常说，年纪越大，时间越是“转瞬即逝”。随着我们逐渐变老，一方面，不断进步的科技的确在加快我们的时间感，，除此之外，还有另外一个因素在影响着我们的时间知觉，而且不像科技，对于这个因素我们可以说是束手无策。
When young and fresh-faced, we’re constantly discovering new and exciting things that we’ve not experienced before, and we naturally pay a lot more attention to them. As we get older, though, those “new” experiences grow pale. By extension, time seems to pass more quickly. Interestingly, a study carried out in 1997 by Mangan and Bolinsky went some way to proving that older people really do perceive time differently. While people in their 20’s could guess when three minutes had passed fairly accurately, those in their 60’s overestimated the time elapsed by about 20%, giving some credence to the idea that time really does speed up with age.
当我们还年轻，面带朝气，我们能够不断地发现之前从未体验过的刺激新鲜事儿，自然而然的，我们会对这些新鲜事物投以更多的注意力。而随着年龄增长，那些新奇的体验变得黯淡无光，乃至连时间的流逝都似乎变快了。有趣的是，在1997年，梅根(Megan)和柏林斯基(Bolinsky)开展了一项研究，初步证明了老年人感受时间的方式的确不一样。20多岁的年轻人能够相当精确地估计到何时刚好距离开始时间过去了3分钟，而60多岁的老年人中有20%高估了过去的时间长短，这个结果为“年纪越大时间过得越快”的说法提供了一定的可信度。
Afternoon Naps
午睡时光
One of the smallest but most enjoyable pleasures in the world is the humble afternoon nap. A quick, 20-minute power nap can revitalize us just enough to carry on with the rest of the day, but any longer than that and our ability to tell the time goes out the window.
午睡虽不起眼，但是可以说是世界上最微不足道但却幸福感慢慢的享受之一了。飞快地睡上20分钟充电午觉，能恰到好处地让我们恢复元气、精神饱满地度过一天剩下的时光，不过若是比这再多睡一会儿，我们就能明显感到窗外的时间流逝了。
When we’re tired, our perception of time goes completely off-kilter. That’s because when we’re sleep deprived, our brains just can’t keep up with discerning between short and long stretches of time. The length of time we nap is also key to how our mind keeps time. After 20 minutes of napping, we enter something called slow-wave sleep. If you break the wave mid-way through, it will take a while for you to accurately perceive time again, which is precisely why they call it a 20 minute power nap.
在疲劳的时候，我们的时间感会完全崩坏。因为一旦睡眠被剥夺，我们的大脑就不能够清晰地分辨时间的长短。午睡时间的长度对于大脑计时来说非常关键。小睡20分钟后，我们就进入了所谓的慢波睡眠状态。如果慢波睡眠被打断了，要想重新准确地知觉时间，就得花上一会儿工夫。这也正是为什么人们会把20分钟午觉称作“充电小睡“的原因。
Time Stands Still
时间静止
Remember watching the clock in high school and waiting for the bell to ring? If it felt like time was standing still, that might be because your brain genuinely thought it was. The “optical” illusion of time standing still is something that happens when our eyes move quickly from one point to another. According to Kielan Yarrow and a whole host of other psychologists, when our gaze fixes suddenly on the second hand of a clock, our perception of time stretches slightly backwards to compensate for that movement. As a result, your mind tells you that you’ve been looking at the second hand for longer, and thus fills in the blank with what it thinks should be there.
记不记得在高中的时候，盯着时钟等待下课铃响？如果当时你觉得时间仿佛静止了，可能因为你的大脑真的就是这么想的。当我们的眼睛快速地从一个点移动到另外一个点时，就会发生“时间静止”的视觉错觉。齐兰·雅罗(Kielan Yarrow)以及其他很多心理学家认为，当我们的视线突然聚焦在时钟的秒针上时，为了对这一动作进行补偿，我们的时间知觉会轻微提前。于是，你的大脑会告诉你，其实你已经盯着秒针看了一会儿了，从而填补上视线移动导致的时间空白，当然，这个空白并非真实存在，只不过你的大脑坚信它存在而已。
Getting Emotional
情绪化
Many like to think that they’re not ruled by their emotions, but they do affect our bodies more than you think—at least in terms of how we perceive time. At the bottom of a long list of ways in which our brain is constantly finding new ways to trick us, negative emotions in particular can wreak havoc on our time-keeping abilities. While boredom can make time seem to stand still, just about any emotion will change how fast or slow the time goes—especially anxiety.
很多人宁愿相信他们并不受情绪左右，但是，情绪对身体的影响可能超出你的认识——至少在时间知觉方面确有此事。我们的大脑在不断开发新的花招骗得我们团团转，而在这个长长的“骗术”表单的最末，就是负面情绪，它能肆意破坏我们计时的能力。无聊能让时间静止，不光如此，几乎所有情绪都能让时间的进程变快或是变慢——焦虑情绪尤为明显。
For a few years now, psychologists have carried out studies on the subject and have concluded that individuals experiencing negative emotions concentrate more on the passing of time than those who are in a good mood, which makes a particularly anxiety-filled moment seem longer. That might explain why after we argue, the room’s tension-ridden atmosphere makes time seem to drag on and on.
过去几年，心理学家们就这个问题开展了多项研究，并总结发现，与心情好的人比，怀有负面情绪的人会更多地关注时间的流逝，从而让焦虑的一刻显得更漫长。这也许能够解释为什么我们在大吵一架之后，房间里紧绷的气氛能让时间看起来无限拖沓。
