Enthusiasm and positive anticipation of a vacation creates a distortion in the perception of time, a study shows. In other words, when we look forward to a vacation or holiday, time seems to pass faster.
A recent study by researchers from Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq University in Iraq surveyed over 1,600 people in the UK and Iraq about their perception of time in relation to two major holidays: Christmas and Ramadan.
In the UK, 76% of participants reported that they feel like Christmas is coming faster every year. Similarly, in Iraq, 70% of respondents felt the same about Ramadan. This phenomenon was more pronounced among people who enjoyed the holidays in the previous year.
A distortion in our perception of time
Researchers have found that the excitement and positive anticipation of these events creates a distortion in our perception of time.
Accelerated time perception is not influenced by age, contrary to popular belief. Instead, it is closely related to previous positive experiences and expectations for the future event.
The study also revealed that temporal distortion is often accompanied by what experts call “prospective memory errors.” This means that in their excitement for the expected event, people tend to forget to perform certain planned tasks.
Experts suggest that this phenomenon can be explained by the fact that when we are excited for an upcoming vacation, we pay more attention to the passing of time, but paradoxically, we also become more distracted or forgetful about daily tasks.
The study was published on journals.plos.org.
Source: www.descopera.ro
