How do we experience time? - Matt Danzico

一次感知时间的体验 － Matt Danzico

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Jessica Ruby

翻译人员: Zixuan Zhao 校对人员: Peipei Xiang

Hello, humans.

你好，人类！

My name is Matt

我叫Matt，

and for the next several moments,

接下来的一点时间里面，

you are going to listen to me.

你要听我讲。

Mwah, ha, ha, ha, ha.

啊哈哈哈哈！

Sorry. I'm just joking.

抱歉，开个玩笑。

This is my normal voice.

这是我正常的声音。

Have you ever taken direction

你有没有接受过 来自电脑的神秘声音的指令？

from a mysterious voice on the computer before?

No? Perfect!

没？太好了 ！

I want to try an experiment with you,

我想和你尝试一个实验，

but I can't tell you what that experiment entails

但我不能告诉你实验内容，

because if I do,

因为如果我告诉你，

it won't work.

它就没效果了。

You'll just have to trust me.

你只要相信我就好。

This will all make sense soon,

很快你就会明白了，

hopefully.

希望如此。

If you're sitting down,

如果你正坐着，

stand up from your chair and take a step back.

从椅子上站起来，向后退一步。

In a moment, I'm going to have you twirl around,

我待会儿要让你转圈，

so give yourself a bit of space.

所以给自己腾出点空间。

Need to move some furniture around?

要搬家具？

Take your time.

慢慢来，

I'll wait.

我等你。

On the count of three,

现在我数到三，

you're going to start hopping on one foot.

你要开始单脚跳跃。

Are you ready?

准备好了吗？

One,

一，

two,

二，

three!

三，

Hop,

跳，

hop,

跳，

hop,

跳，

hop,

跳，

hop.

跳，

Nice work!

很好！

OK, while you're still hopping,

好，你保持单脚跳的同时，

I now want you to begin barking like a dog.

现在我想请你学狗叫，

Ruff, ruff;

汪汪，

ruff, ruff;

汪汪，

ruff, ruff.

汪汪，

Wow, that's quite a bark!

叫得好！

And a few more.

再来几次，

Ruff, ruff, ruff.

汪汪汪。

And three,

三，

two,

one,

二，

一，

stop!

停！

Feel free to relax and sit back down.

现在你可以放松一下，坐下来了。

Now, I want you think about how much time passed

现在，我想请你思考一下，

between the moment I said, "Go!"

从我说开始，

and you began hopping on one foot

你开始单脚跳的时候，

to the moment I said, "Stop!"

到我说停的时候，

Take a guess.

猜一猜用了多少时间。

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

你可以精准到秒或者分钟，

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

现在，用纸笔写下这个数字。

All done?

好了吗？

The exact time was actually 26 seconds.

准确时间是26秒。

Did you overestimate?

你多估计了吗？

Chances are that you did.

很可能是的。

So, what was the culprit?

那么罪魁祸首是谁呢？

The culprit was time perception.

其实是时间知觉在作怪。

Although we can make shockingly precise time estimates,

尽管我们在估计时间时可以做到令人惊讶的准确，

when we experience something new, unusual, or dynamic,

但当我们尝试新鲜的、不寻常的或者动态的东西时，

例如单脚跳时，

like hopping on one foot

while taking instructions from a voice on the computer,

当接受来自电脑的声音指令时，

or, say, jumping out of an airplane,

或者从飞机上跳下来时，

we often miscalculate how much time has passed.

我们经常会算错过去了多少时间。

Meaning, if you bungee jump for the first time,

也就是，如果你头一次蹦极，

your fall to the bottom may seem like it lasted for 10 seconds

你掉到底的过程感觉像10秒钟，

while the recorded time may actually show

但记录的时间可能会显示

that the jump only lasted for 5.

蹦极只持续了5秒钟。

The reason for this difference is

有时间差的原因是，

unlike your body's physical drop to the bottom,

和你身体坠落到底不同，

your brain's perception of time does not follow

你大脑对时间的认知并不是沿着

a straight line between two points.

一条两点之间的直线。

Some scientists even believe

有些科学家甚至相信

your brain follows more of a curved path

你的大脑更可能沿着曲线运作，

that is dependent on the amount of information

这和你坠落时吸取的信息量相关。

you take in as you fall downwards.

For example, David Eagleman,

举个例子，David Eagleman，

a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine,

一个贝勒医学院的神经学家认为

believes time perception is heavily influenced

时间认知受到

by the number of memories and data

你记录进大脑的 记忆以及数据多少的很大影响。

you record onto your brain.

When you have a new experience,

当你有一个新体验时，

like jumping off a high dive for the first time,

像头一次高空跳水时，

your senses are heightened.

你的感官更敏感。

You're taking in more details

你会接收比平时更多的

about sights, sounds, and smells

视觉、听觉和嗅觉上的细节信息。

than you normally would.

And you store more data onto your brain

而且你会以记忆的形式 往你大脑中储存更多数据。

in the form of memories.

So, the more data you store in your brain,

所以你往大脑中储存的数据越多——

like the smell of chlorine as you leapt from the high dive

比如你从高台跳下时氯的气味，

or the color of the water,

或者水的颜色——

the longer your perception of that experience.

你对这个经历的感觉就持续得越久。

Meaning, the number of memories

这意味着你往脑中储存的记忆以及数据的数量

and data you record on your brain

has a direct impact on how long

对于你认为这个经历持续了多久 有着直接的影响。

you believe that experience to have lasted.

Have you ever heard a person recount

你有没有曾经听一个人回忆

what it's like to be in a car accident?

身处一场车祸中是什么感觉？

Although automotive accidents typically last seconds,

尽管汽车事故通常只持续数秒，

those involved often say they felt

亲历者经常说他们感觉

the accident lasted far longer.

那场事故持续的时间要长得多。

Time perception can also account for

时间知觉也能解释

why your childhood may have seem to have lasted forever.

为什么你的童年似乎特别长。

By adulthood, a year can slip by in a heartbeat,

对于成年人来说，一年瞬间就溜走了，

but children record more data onto their brains.

但小孩往他们的大脑中储存更多的数据。

This occurs because many of the experiences

这是因为对我们来说，很多事情

we have as children are new and unfamiliar to us.

在我们小时候是新鲜且不熟悉的。

The stack of encoded memories on your brain

你脑中的这沓编码记忆

is so dense that reading them back makes you believe

如此之厚以至于当你回想时你会觉得

your experiences must have taken forever.

你所经历的一定花了很久很久。

Additionally, when you're 5 years old,

另外，当你五岁时，

one year is 1/5 of your life.

一年是你生命的五分之一。

But, when you're 25, one year makes up 1/25,

而当你25岁时，一年只占了二十五分之一，

further altering your perception of time.

更加改变了你对时间的感知。

And, if you're an adult,

而且如果你是成年人，

think about a trip that you may have taken

回想你的第一回去远方的一次旅行，

to a far-away land for the first time.

Didn't those two weeks you spent exploring your surroundings

难道你不觉得你经历的那两周

seem to have lasted far longer than 14 days?

远不只14天吗？

Though time perception is rooted

尽管时间知觉是基于自然科学和理论，

in both hard science and theory,

it provides a great lesson for us

它给我们提供了如何好好生活的重要一课。

on how to live our lives.

I'm sure you have all heard

我相信你们都听说过，

that a person shouldn't sit on a couch

人不能坐在沙发上

and let life pass them by.

放任时间流过。

Well, time perception tells us why that is.

时间知觉告诉我们为什么是这样。

If you get up and engage with the world

如果你站起来拥抱世界，

and have new experiences,

增加新的体验，

and maybe even hop around on one foot

甚至是单脚跳跃，

and bark like a dog,

学狗叫，

you will literally perceive your own life

你就真的能感觉到你自己的人生

to have lasted for a longer period of time.

持续了更长的时间。