Slowing Down Time Through Novel Experiences

We often remark that years seem to fly by. Cognitive science suggests this feeling stems from how the brain encodes memories. When days look alike, the hippocampus compresses them into fewer distinct records, creating the impression that time has sped up\footnote{Avni-Babad, D., & Ritov, I. (2003). Routine and the perception of time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132(4), 543–553. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.132.4.543}. Conversely, a day rich with new experiences leaves more traces in neural storage, stretching our subjective timeline\footnote{Kurby, C.A., & Zacks, J.M. (2008). Segmentation in the perception and memory of events. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(2), 72–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.11.004}.

The brain’s “hard drive” does not simply fill sequential slots; it distributes patterns across networks. Research on interval timing indicates that perception of duration relies on a distributed system spanning the striatum, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex, rather than a single clock mechanism\footnote{Buhusi, C.V., & Meck, W.H. (2005). What makes us tick? Functional and neural mechanisms of interval timing. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(10), 755–765. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3026784/}.

Novelty amplifies this encoding. Surprising stimuli trigger dopamine release, which strengthens synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal–VTA loop and enhances memory consolidation\footnote{Düzel, E., Bunzeck, N., Guitart-Masip, M., Wittmann, B., Schott, B.H., & Tobler, P.N. (2010). Functional imaging of the human dopaminergic midbrain. Trends in Neurosciences, 33(10), 469–477. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166223610001064}. This mechanism explains why traveling, trying new foods, or even taking a different route to work can make a week feel longer in hindsight.

To deliberately slow time, seek diversity in daily routines:

• Commute through alternate neighborhoods to create fresh spatial memories.
• Learn a skill outside your comfort zone to activate new motor circuits.
• Schedule micro-adventures, like visiting an unfamiliar museum or park, to generate episodic richness.

Such practices distribute experiences across multiple neural “directories,” increasing retrieval cues and expanding our retrospective sense of duration. As neuroscientist David Eagleman notes, the more densely packed our memory book becomes, the longer the chapters appear\footnote{Eagleman, D.M. (2008). Human time perception and its illusions. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 18(2), 131–136. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2830453/}. By cultivating novelty, we can counteract the feeling of life’s fast-forward button and savor time more fully.

References

[1] Avni-Babad, D., & Ritov, I. (2003). Routine and the perception of time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132(4), 543–553. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.132.4.543 [2] Buhusi, C.V., & Meck, W.H. (2005). What makes us tick? Functional and neural mechanisms of interval timing. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(10), 755–765. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3026784/ [3] Düzel, E., Bunzeck, N., Guitart-Masip, M., Wittmann, B., Schott, B.H., & Tobler, P.N. (2010). Functional imaging of the human dopaminergic midbrain. Trends in Neurosciences, 33(10), 469–477. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166223610001064 [4] Kurby, C.A., & Zacks, J.M. (2008). Segmentation in the perception and memory of events. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(2), 72–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.11.004 [5] Eagleman, D.M. (2008). Human time perception and its illusions. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 18(2), 131–136. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2830453/