the experience and perception of time

for the theorists and philosophers of the group...

"We see colours, hear sounds and feel textures. Some aspects of the world, it seems, are perceived through a particular sense. Others, like shape, are perceived through more than one sense. But what sense or senses do we use when perceiving time? It is certainly not associated with one particular sense. In fact, it seems odd to say that we see, hear or touch time passing. And indeed, even if all our senses were prevented from functioning for a while, we could still notice the passing of time through the changing pattern of our thought. Perhaps, then, we have a special faculty, distinct from the five senses, for detecting time. Or perhaps, as seems more likely, we notice time through perception of other things. But how?

Time perception raises a number of intriguing puzzles, including what it means to say we perceive time. In this article, we shall explore the various processes through which we are made aware of time, and which influence the way we think time really is. Inevitably, we shall be concerned with the psychology of time perception, but the purpose of the article is to draw out the philosophical issues, and in particular whether and how aspects of our experience can be accommodated within certain metaphysical theories concerning the nature of time and causation."

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my original thoughts on the matter...

Expanded Time Perception Hypothesis: Understanding Procrastination

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A firm understanding of Expanded Time Perception Hypothesis (ETPH) is essential for all procrastinators. The main difference between the procrastinator and the non-procrastinator is the slight alteration to the traditional understanding of the length of a second. A simple definition of a second as a unit of time without the aid of a stopwatch or other type of time keeping device, is the length of time it takes to say one Mississippi or one steamboat once in a regular speaking voice. However, to a procrastinator, applying ETPH, the understanding of what constitutes a second is the length of time it takes to say one Mississippi or one steamboat ten times. Therefore an hour to a non-procrastinator consists of 60 minutes or 3600 traditional seconds. To a procrastinator, however, an hour still consists of 60 minutes, but thanks to EPTH, contains 36000 traditional seconds. Both the non-procrastinator and the procrastinator may schedule to watch television, knit, or colour coordinate their closets for five minutes before beginning a task. While both begin the task in five minutes, the non-procrastinator begins the task in 300 traditional seconds while the procrastinator actually begins the task in 3000 traditional seconds. ETPH is essential for all successful procrastinators as it reduces the stress of impending deadlines of writing assignments by creating the sense that the actual deadline is much farther than it appears.