According to an article published in the journal, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people perceive the passage of time scientific advances.
At the end of the first month of social distancing, in May 2020, most study participants (65%) reported that time is passing more slowly. The researchers classified this perception as “time stretching” and found that it was linked to feelings of loneliness and a lack of positive experiences in time.
An even larger proportion (75%) said they felt less “time pressure” when the clock seemed to be going faster, leaving less time for everyday tasks and leisure. The vast majority of respondents (90%) reported sheltering at home during the period.
“We followed the volunteers for five months to see if this ‘snapshot’ of the onset of the pandemic would change over time,” André Cravo, first author of the article, told Agência FAPESP. Cravo is a professor at the Federal University of ABC in São Paulo State, Brazil.
The study began on May 6 when 3,855 volunteers, recruited via social media, answered an online ten-item questionnaire and completed a simple task to measure their ability to estimate short intervals (pressing the start and stop keys in 1, 3 and 12 seconds). They were then asked about their routine over the past week (whether they had completed all required tasks and how much time they had devoted to free time) and how they felt now (happy, sad, lonely, etc.).
“They were invited to come back for more sessions each week, but not all came,” Cravo said. “In the final analysis, we considered data from 900 participants who answered the questionnaire for at least four weeks, albeit not all consecutively.”
Using time-awareness scales from 0 to 100, which are common for this type of survey, the researchers analyzed the responses and calculated the two parameters — time stretch and time pressure — to see if they increased or decreased week over week.
“In addition to a rise or fall on the scale, we also analyzed the factors that went along with the changes. Over the five-month period, we observed a similar pattern: In weeks when participants reported feeling lonely and experiencing less positive affect, they also felt time was passing more slowly. Time passed faster in very stressful situations,” said Cravo.
When the first set of responses to the question about the passage of time was compared to the second at the end of the first month of confinement, Raymundo’s perception of the stretch of time had increased by 20 points, while time pressure had decreased by 30 points, according to Brain Institute researchers Machado of the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital (HIAE) in São Paulo and last author of the article. “However, these results are obviously influenced by memory bias, as measurements were not taken before the pandemic,” he said.
Time slowed most for younger participants at the start of the pandemic, when compliance with social distancing rules was at its strictest. Apart from age, demographic factors such as household size, occupation and gender had no influence on the results.
For the authors, this may be an effect of the sample profile. Most of the volunteers (80.5%) lived in the Southeast region. A large majority were women (74.32%). Most had a high school diploma, many even a college degree (71.78%). In terms of income, about a third belonged to the upper-middle class (33.08%). Sizable minorities worked in education (19.43%) and health (15.36%).
“This is typical of online surveys where the majority are women living in the South East with a high level of formal education. The impact of demographics might have been clearer if the sample had better represented the Brazilian population,” Machado said.
Inner clock
Although the pandemic changed participants’ perceptions of the passage of time, it didn’t appear to affect their ability to sense duration as measured by the task at which a button was pressed. “We are all capable of judging short intervals. When the results of this time estimation test are available [including overestimation and underestimation of the intervals] compared to time-awareness scores, there was no correlation,” Machado said.
According to Cravo, evidence from the scientific literature suggests that the feeling that time is passing more slowly or faster is mainly influenced by two factors: the relevance of time in a given context and its unpredictability. “For example, if you are late for work [so that time is relevant in the context] and have to wait for a bus [unpredictable timing], you have an extreme perception that the minutes don’t pass. When you’re on vacation and having fun, time doesn’t matter and it just seems to pass,” he said.
Perception often changes as we recall past situations. “When you remember what you did on vacation, the time seems to have lasted longer. On the contrary, when you’re standing in line, time goes by way too slowly, but when you recall the situation some time later, it feels like it was over quickly,” Cravo said.
In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, how people will remember the passage of time during the period of social distancing is unknown. “Some time milestones such as Mardi Gras, June festivals and birthdays have had to be skipped over the past two years, so the question remains open,” he concluded.
Source:
Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)