deepstash
Beta
Deepstash brings you key ideas from the most inspiring articles like this one:
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
How you perceive time may depend on your income
5
Key Ideas
Save all ideas
How we perceive time
The brain can stretch or compress the feeling of time. Seconds of pain can feel like minutes, and hours spent at a party can feel like a moment.
Research shows that an extra factor behind our experience of time is our income.
128 SAVES
750 READS
The feeling of a long life
Research suggests new experiences could create more time codes in the human brain as it processes memory formation.
This could mean that people who can afford to enjoy more vacations and hobbies and have more stimulating jobs, will recall having lived for a longer time.
138 SAVES
641 READS
Hunting for time codes
- In the 1950s, a standard treatment for epilepsy focused on removing parts of patient's brains, which also left them unable to form new long-term memories. It suggested that memory formation and time perception are tied to the medial temporal lobe.
- Another study found that the brain doesn't waste time memorizing moments that are dull or non-essential, but memories are created when someone engages in actions that are free, engaging, or varied.
- Time feels forever when it is spent in a boring environment, but in retrospect, it will not be remembered in detail. However, fascinating events that flew by will be full of memories and feel longer in retrospect.
125 SAVES
457 READS
Expanding time by creating a life rich in experiences
People tend to create internal narratives about themselves - a life full of rich and varied experiences will likely have a satisfying quality to it in retrospect. Having more control over your time can lead to more novel memories.
People from all socio-economic levels could derive enjoyment and satisfaction, for example, by painting houses or gardening. Higher-paid jobs can lead to more new experiences, but wealthy people may spend money on a fancy watch instead, which will not have the same change to the perception of time as a vacation.
119 SAVES
389 READS
Age and subjective time
Age is also a wealth-dependent factor in how we experience subjective time. A young person's eye will jiggle regularly to take in new stimuli. As a person ages, the eye muscles grow slower, and the brain receives less input. The brain also grows accustomed to a certain amount of stimuli, and the small amount received in old age leaves a person feeling that the days are too short.
For a rich person, taking a vacation to an exotic place may slow time down for a while, but can lose its charm and feel that a day has come to an end too soon. People with less money have fewer chances and resources to escape the monotonous parts of their lives.
111 SAVES
387 READS
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
4
Key Ideas
Sugar creates intense cravings
Sugar activates the brain's reward system that releases feel-good hormones. Too much sugar too frequently will hijack this reward system and will cause a loss of control, cravings and increased tol...
Sugar slows the brain down
A diet high in sugar makes learning difficult by slowing the brain down. Overconsumption of sugar damages synaptic activity in the brain.
When you consume too much sugar, you could develop resistance to insulin, the hormone responsible for regulating the function of brain cells.
The sugar crash
When you eat too much sugar, your blood sugar levels peak and drop. This causes you to experience irritability, mood swings, brain fog, and fatigue. You may find yourself feeling anxious or depressed. Carb-laden foods create the same response.
Chronically high blood sugar levels are linked to inflammation in the brain, which may be a cause of depression.
5
Key Ideas
The different kinds of memories
We hold on to different kinds of memories.
- Short-term memories last seconds to hours and long-term memories last for years.
- We also have a...
Where your brain keeps memories
By studying people with amnesia, it seems that short-term and long-term memories don't form in precisely the same way, nor do declarative and procedural memories.
- Emotional responses such as fear occur in a brain region called the amygdala.
- Memories of learned skills are associated with the region called the striatum.
- The hippocampus is essential for forming, retaining, and recalling declarative memories.
- The temporal lobes play a critical role in forming and recalling memories.
How we experience memories
Memories are held within groups of neurons called cell assemblies. They fire as a group in response to a specific stimulus, such as recognising your friend's face.
The more neurons fire together, the more the interconnection of the cells strengthen. We experience the nerves' collective activity as a memory.
3
Key Ideas
Being overweight affects the brain
A diet high in saturated fats and sugars affects your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. It also affects the parts of the brain that are important to memory.
- A 20...
Memory problems
Obese people find it more difficult to pick apart spatial, item, and temporal memory, as well as the ability to integrate them.
If you're obese, you might be up to 20 percent more likely not to remember where you put your keys.
Changing eating habits
The diet of obese people degrades their memory and makes them more likely to overeat, a study revealed.
Making a meal more memorable may help to eat less bad stuff. If you watch TV while you eat, you'll eat more than planned.