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0 pointsJohnJamesRambo3y ago0 comments

Interestingly our bodies can increase the refresh rate and processing of smaller slices of time when needed. I remember an experiment scientists did dropping people from a bungee with an led display that had a display rate too high or fast for normal humans to see it. During the drop they could see the number it was displaying. :)

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kjeetgill3y ago

Huh, I've heard about this study but recall them having the opposite conclusion.

Edit: I think this is the study we're thinking of. http://psychologyrich.blogspot.com/2011/04/does-bungee-jump-...

They couldn't see the flickering screen any better even though their subjective experience of the duration was longer.

JohnJamesRamboOP3y ago

I have to admit you may be right. I can’t find any other paper that contradicts this paper.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

I don’t know how I got the opposite idea from the show I was watching. They were doing the experiment and I swear they said the people could see the numbers better. Perhaps if I had been bungee jumping while watching the show…

Fascinatingly, it seems that it is the perception of time that increases and with it the recording of information.

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/129112147

ABUMRAD: In that instant, our memories go wide open.

Mr. EAGLEMAN: Because thats what memory is for. Its for when everything hits the fan. You want to write it down and remember it.

ABUMRAD: So all of it goes right to your hard drive - the clouds, the feeling of the air. Oh look, theres a guy in a blue shirt.

Mr. EAGLEMAN: So when you read that back out, the experience feels like it must have taken a very long time.

KRULWICH: Hmmm.

Mr. EAGLEMAN: It must have.

KRULWICH: Normally, the trivial stuff gets dumped but in this situation, it gets written.

ABUMRAD: And then you realize how much trivial stuff is in there.

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