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Time perception
#1
Time perception
So if time appears slower during dreams, assuming we learn how exactly dreams work, couldn't we technically run a series of deduction tests on people during dreams in order to pin point what part of the brain is activated that causes this time perception change?

We could manipulate that and develop chemicals, and drugs that could increase that, and potentially in the future have time seem slower by chemically inducing it.

Is there anything I'm missing? There must be some reason, chemical, molecular reason, something that causes the brain to perceive time slower, there is no example of time perception changing for every person regardless of brain activity outside of the one mentioned. If every person experiences it slower to some degree, that tells me there must be something that changes during that period, something we can find and manipulate. It's not just set in stone. The reason is not just "dreams", modern medicine and drugs develop because we find a common effect associated with one thing and pinpoint where it originates from. Even if the change is ever so subtle, it doesn't matter, change is change regardless, and if desired we could still manipulate it into a big change, even if starting small, even milliseconds slower is worth noting and exploring. Just because it doesn't effect our sleep, or change much currently, doesn't mean it is unimportant.

I'm not giving an opinion on whether, if it existed, this would be a good choice to take. Rather, simply speculating on possibilities for the sake of better scientific understanding of the brain, and advancement in medical discovery. If drugs, illegal or not, provide one thing, it's a better understanding of the brain, and possible side effects of increasing certain natural chemicals by non natural means.
Which is better:
To die with ignorance, or to live with intelligence?

Truth doesn't accommodate to personal opinions.
The choice is yours. 
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There is God and there is man, it's only a matter of who created whom

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The more questions you ask, the more you realize that disagreement is inevitable, and communication of this disagreement, irrelevant.
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#2
RE: Time perception
Holy shit yes, sometimes I drop off back to sleep for about 1 minute of real time, and it feels like I've been dreaming for several hours in that period.
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#3
RE: Time perception
(November 10, 2015 at 9:44 pm)robvalue Wrote: Holy shit yes, sometimes I drop off back to sleep for about 1 minute of real time, and it feels like I've been dreaming for several hours in that period.
I have done this as well. It's worth noting that this time change will be far more noticeable during REM sleep, someone who tends to be in deep sleep more than average will probably notice this more than average, if we were to observe this or study, that's where we should start. By deduction ideally you would want to compare others given different circumstances and analyze brain differences, this would be a point in time you could use for comparison, or refer to.
Which is better:
To die with ignorance, or to live with intelligence?

Truth doesn't accommodate to personal opinions.
The choice is yours. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is God and there is man, it's only a matter of who created whom

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The more questions you ask, the more you realize that disagreement is inevitable, and communication of this disagreement, irrelevant.
Reply
#4
RE: Time perception
I'm suddenly reminded of the film "Click" Smile

I'd be very interested too if anyone has any more information about this.

About time perception. Not the film Tongue
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#5
RE: Time perception
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#6
RE: Time perception
Which is better:
To die with ignorance, or to live with intelligence?

Truth doesn't accommodate to personal opinions.
The choice is yours. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is God and there is man, it's only a matter of who created whom

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The more questions you ask, the more you realize that disagreement is inevitable, and communication of this disagreement, irrelevant.
Reply
#7
RE: Time perception
If they know what sections of the brain become active the logical place to look for what you seek would be in those sections.
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#8
RE: Time perception
(November 10, 2015 at 10:04 pm)Minimalist Wrote: If they know what sections of the brain become active the logical place to look for what you seek would be in those sections.
Yes, I'm not denying that.
I'm not saying they are wrong either.
I'm saying everything you experience happens for a chemical reason. If they can not explain a certain effect, that means there is something they have not figured out yet. Maybe it's that they haven't looked specifically enough, or done the right tests, but the reason I said a rem scan doesn't say much is because it is much too general to figure out where a specific thing originated from.

We've got to get over this idea of lumping things in to a pile, naming that pile, and just saying "it's already figured out" if we want to be able to understand how things work the way they work, and why. It's such a tragedy that we so often put things aside and stop thinking about them because they are "figured out", that we start closing ourselves off to possibilities without considering them because we think we know everything about them, and don't need to revisit them because an explanation has already been given.
Which is better:
To die with ignorance, or to live with intelligence?

Truth doesn't accommodate to personal opinions.
The choice is yours. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is God and there is man, it's only a matter of who created whom

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The more questions you ask, the more you realize that disagreement is inevitable, and communication of this disagreement, irrelevant.
Reply
#9
RE: Time perception
My understanding of the psychology is that the slowness of dreams (and of car crashes, great sporting plays, etc.) isn't in the experiencing, but in the way we remember the experience. Because these are all unusual or special events, we remember them more vividly, almost like they have super-HD resolution relative to other normal memories.
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#10
RE: Time perception
Dreams are very distorted and mish-mash in other areas not just time perception, I also think that the same 'drunken' semi-conscious state that makes us think our dreams are real (non-lucid) alters the time perception. We clearly don't think straight when we're dreaming.

Another thing is that the perception of the speed of time slows down when we're dealing with novelty and things we've never seen before: And dreams are very unusual and novel so that might explain why it feels like we were asleep a lot longer than we were.

And I have found that my recurring dreams don't seem to feel like they lasted as long. So that would make sense.
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