Mind hacks reports on the sensation of experiencing slow motion during times of extreme danger:
NPR has a fantastic short radio segment on whether we really do experience time more slowly when our life is in danger.
The piece riffs on a 2007 study called ‘Does Time Really Slow Down during a Frightening Event?’ led by neuroscientist David Eagleman who discusses the project on the show.
The experimenters wanted a way to find a way to test whether we suddenly start experiencing time in greater detail when in mortal danger, or whether it just seems that way when we look back on it.
Of course, genuinely putting people in life-threatening situations is a little unethical, so the team used something called SCAD diving, where people are dropped – free fall – into a net.
Full article at Mind Hacks
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I’ve read about that experiment before and I’m not sure accurately SCAD is emulating a real-world ‘scary’ event. I once, when young, fell out of a tree and, during the fall, wondered “Why haven’t I hit the ground yet, this is taking *ages*” but I’ve never experienced this time-distortion when during ‘safe’ experiences like bungee-jumping or skydiving.
Saw stuff on this many many years ago on TV. The research then showed that when a sudden shock was delivered to a subject, the brain started processing in a different region (cerebellum?) where automated procedures (such as riding a bike) are stored. Processing in this region is significantly faster, which much quicker reaction times (being automated rather than conscious) and this gave rise to the theory that time seemed extended (the same event being processed much faster, thus leading to more “frames” – by analogy with a film – which when considered back later at normal speed seems to extend time..)
but did derrern brown use a techniques similar to remember the cards flicked throught on a deck of cards before?
What I’d like to know is how we can use this?
Of course it makes sense, adrenaline surge and CNS going haywire and our natural adaptive tendency to record snapshots of information to be recalled to increase our effective response in recurring situations. (This being better used for lions and not city life, but it’s not going away)
The implication would suggest that if we could stimulate the brain to achieve this state without having to throw someone over a ledge, we could, in theory of course, increase memory gathering in situations where we’d normally need to focus but have no stimulant to do so. I.E classrooms.
This also begs the question if Derren here would find it of interest to use it as a case study, a free fall memory game?
@zzz573
No.
it was probably just a card trick. I don’t think he was actually slowing down his perception of time and memorising the entire pack. there’s a fair chance the woman flicking the cards could have flicked the cards in clumps not allowing him to have even seen the face of each card individually.
A lot of what derren brown involves “deception” meaning he’s sometimes just doing a magic trick and dressing it up as mind tricks. of course a lot of what he does is very impressive and show massive sophistication, including his inductions.
Wish I could read the article, but I’m distracted by that bizarre and slightly horrifying picture.
works fer me.
and it can also be taught by martial-arts training.
Interesting. I had that exact experience when I was about 14, crossing a busy main road. Saw the car a split second too late and it hit me. Next thing I knew I was flying, tumbling through the air – IN SLOW MOTION! At least it seemed that way. Landed back on the bonnet and rolled into the middle of the road whilst all these cars were shooting by, taking no notice whatsoever! It all seemed to take AGES and was a very bizarre experience, which I still remember like it was yesterday even though it was more than 30 years ago.
But you can stop worrying now because I didn’t die. LOL
Take pulse as you wake up. After first few beats, heart appears to slow. Perception of time is changing, not your pulse.
The research then showed that when a sudden shock was delivered to a subject, the brain started processing in a different region (cerebellum?) where automated procedures (such as riding a bike) are stored.
I’ve met that kid-she looks like that all the time, poor tyke…
definitely remember being fooled by Derren’s “button counting” effect from an old ToTM…
red herring was along these lines