Why Children Perceive Time Slower Than Adults

Researchers are learning how children perceive time, and how “learning to see time through their eyes may be fundamental to a happier human experience.” Many factors are at play, one being emotional state: “A person's experience of time passages in daily life does not fluctuate with age, but with their emotional state. Put simply – if you are happier, time passes faster. If you are sad, time drags.”  Attention also matters. “The more attention that you pay to a period of time passing, the slower it seems to go for you." Alternatively, “the more time pressure, boredom and routine in a person's life, as well as the more future-orientated an individual is in contrast to living in the moment, the faster time is experienced.” Other factors include the link between speed and duration, vision, heartrate, memory, and physical exercise. “What you are doing in the present is unsurprisingly paramount to our understanding of time, no matter our age.”

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