Nov 24, 2014 03:37 AM
When Bad Things Happen in Slow Motion
http://nautil.us/issue/19/illusions/when...low-motion
EXCERPT: [...] Retired fire chief Richard Gasaway refers to this apparent slowing down of time in tense situations as tachypsychia, which roughly translates as “fast mind.” “This phenomenon afflicts many first responders,” Gasaway claims, based on hundreds of interviews he has conducted for his research, blog, and speaking engagements on “situational awareness.” Bolstered also by what he judges to be personal experiences of tachypsychia, Gasaway has come to consider it as a sometime component of the overall stress response. For first responders, the phenomenon is dangerous, he says, because it can warp situational awareness and decision-making processes.
But is tachypsychia real, or an illusion? David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine set out to answer this question with a test. [...]
[...] Researchers warn that the data in hand is too scant to conclude much about CFFs in humans for the time being, or even to say with certainty what the connection is between CFFs and subjective time perception. But the variability of CFFs among animals and those with mental diseases, together with our subjective experience of time, leave us with an interesting question to ponder: Are there people who, like the swordfish, live in another temporal dimension?
http://nautil.us/issue/19/illusions/when...low-motion
EXCERPT: [...] Retired fire chief Richard Gasaway refers to this apparent slowing down of time in tense situations as tachypsychia, which roughly translates as “fast mind.” “This phenomenon afflicts many first responders,” Gasaway claims, based on hundreds of interviews he has conducted for his research, blog, and speaking engagements on “situational awareness.” Bolstered also by what he judges to be personal experiences of tachypsychia, Gasaway has come to consider it as a sometime component of the overall stress response. For first responders, the phenomenon is dangerous, he says, because it can warp situational awareness and decision-making processes.
But is tachypsychia real, or an illusion? David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine set out to answer this question with a test. [...]
[...] Researchers warn that the data in hand is too scant to conclude much about CFFs in humans for the time being, or even to say with certainty what the connection is between CFFs and subjective time perception. But the variability of CFFs among animals and those with mental diseases, together with our subjective experience of time, leave us with an interesting question to ponder: Are there people who, like the swordfish, live in another temporal dimension?