Science & technology | Second sight

Memorable images make time pass more slowly

The effect could give our brains longer to process information

A woman is looking at a painting.
You must remember thisPhotograph: Panos PIctures/ Bjoern Steinz

TIME FAMOUSLY speeds up when you are having fun. But it slows down, it turns out, when one looks at something worth remembering. According to research published on April 22nd in Nature Human Behaviour, people’s sense of how fast time passes can be influenced by the memorability of the images in front of them. Scientists propose this effect could be a way for the brain to sneak in more processing time before a snap decision needs to be made.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “…and the seconds are crawling by”

From the April 27th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Science & technology

A person sleeping. The frame is split between night and day.

Does melatonin work for jet lag?

It can help. But it depends where you’re going

A network of pixelated hearts

Training AI models might not need enormous data centres

Eventually, models could be trained without any dedicated hardware at all


Workers harnessed unto the facade of the Museum of the Future, United Arab Emirates.

How the Gulf’s rulers want to harness the power of science

A stronger R&D base, they hope, will transform their countries’ economies. Will their plan work?


Cancer vaccines are showing promise at last

Trials are under way against skin, brain and lung tumours

New firefighting tech is being trialled in Sardinia’s ancient forests

It could sniff out blazes long before they spread out of control

Can Jeff Bezos match Elon Musk in space?

After 25 years, Blue Origin finally heads to orbit, and hopes to become a contender in the private space race