Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Traumatic Memory

Traumatic Memory

Emotionally traumatic events often lead to memories that are exceptionally vivid and enduring, sometimes persisting with remarkable clarity throughout an individual's life. A classic example of this phenomenon is a person who survives a car accident. Even years later, they may recall every detail of the event with startling accuracy — the screeching of the tires, the jarring impact, and the acrid smell of burning rubber. Such vividness contrasts sharply with how an individual remembers mundane...

Impulse

Impulse

According to Newton’s second law of motion, the rate of change of the momentum of an object is the net external force acting on it. The total change in momentum between two timepoints thus depends on both the external force acting on it and the time over which it acts. Describing this mathematically, the total change of an object’s motion is proportional to the force vector and the time over which it is applied. This product is called impulse.
Additionally, it can be shown that the total...

Panic Disorder

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent and sudden minutes-long episodes of intense fear, known as panic attacks. These attacks may feel like heart attacks and often happen without warning or a specific cause. They can include symptoms such as rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, chest pain, trembling, sweating, dizziness, and a sense of helplessness. During a panic attack, individuals may feel as though they are experiencing a heart attack or are in a...

Nightmares and Night Terrors

Nightmares and Night Terrors

Nightmares and night terrors represent two distinct types of sleep disturbances that differ in timing, characteristics, and the sleeper's recall of the event. Nightmares are vivid, disturbing dreams that usually awaken the sleeper from REM sleep, a stage of sleep where brain activity is high, and dreams are most frequent. Upon awakening, individuals often have detailed recollections of their nightmares, which can include themes of threats to survival, security, or self-esteem.
Nightmares often...

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition that arises following exposure to traumatic events such as natural disasters, forced displacement, or severe accidents. It significantly impairs individuals' ability to cope with daily activities and disrupts their emotional and psychological equilibrium.
Symptoms and Behavioral Manifestations
A spectrum of distressing symptoms characterizes PTSD. Recurrent flashbacks, where individuals involuntarily relive traumatic events, are a...

Hazard Rate

Hazard Rate

The hazard rate, also known as the hazard function or failure rate, is a statistical measure used to describe the instantaneous rate at which an event occurs, given that the event has not yet happened. From a probabilistic perspective, it represents the likelihood that a subject will experience the event in a very small time interval, conditional on surviving up to the beginning of that interval. In terms of frequency, the hazard rate can be viewed as the ratio of the number of events to the...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Cross-Modal Sensory Boosting to Improve High-Frequency Hearing Loss: Device Development and Validation.

JMIRx med·2024

Same author

Bimodal Stimulation for the Reduction of Tinnitus Using Vibration on the Skin.

The international tinnitus journal·2023

Same author

The future of sensory substitution, addition, and expansion via haptic devices.

Frontiers in human neuroscience·2023

Same author

A call for comparing theories of consciousness and data sharing.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2022

Same author

Larger visual changes compress time: The inverted effect of asemantic visual features on interval time perception.

PloS one·2022

Same author

The Defensive Activation Theory: REM Sleep as a Mechanism to Prevent Takeover of the Visual Cortex.

Frontiers in neuroscience·2021

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Eye Movements in Visual Duration Perception: Disentangling Stimulus from Time in Predecisional Processes

Eye Movements in Visual Duration Perception: Disentangling Stimulus from Time in Predecisional Processes

Published on: January 19, 2024

Does time really slow down during a frightening event?

Chess Stetson¹, Matthew P Fiesta, David M Eagleman

¹California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America.

|December 13, 2007

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Time appears to slow down during frightening events due to memory recall, not faster perception. This study found no change in temporal resolution, suggesting subjective time is complex.

More Related Videos

Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning, a Robust Rodent Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning, a Robust Rodent Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Published on: October 13, 2018

Fear Incubation Using an Extended Fear-Conditioning Protocol for Rats

Fear Incubation Using an Extended Fear-Conditioning Protocol for Rats

Published on: August 22, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Eye Movements in Visual Duration Perception: Disentangling Stimulus from Time in Predecisional Processes

Eye Movements in Visual Duration Perception: Disentangling Stimulus from Time in Predecisional Processes

Published on: January 19, 2024

Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning, a Robust Rodent Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning, a Robust Rodent Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Published on: October 13, 2018

Fear Incubation Using an Extended Fear-Conditioning Protocol for Rats

Fear Incubation Using an Extended Fear-Conditioning Protocol for Rats

Published on: August 22, 2020

Area of Science:

Psychology
Neuroscience
Cognitive Science

Background:

Subjective time perception often reported as slowed during life-threatening events.
Uncertainty exists whether this is due to enhanced temporal resolution or memory recall.
Emotional salience is a key factor in altered time perception.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between temporal resolution and subjective time dilation during frightening experiences.
To determine if subjective time slowing is a perceptual or memory-based phenomenon.

Main Methods:

Participants underwent a 31m free fall, landing safely in a net.
A handheld device measured the speed of visual perception during the fall.
Retrospective duration estimations were compared between participants and external observers.

Main Results:

No evidence of increased temporal resolution was found during the free fall.
Participants retrospectively estimated their fall duration to be 36% longer than others' estimates.
Subjective time dilation occurred without a corresponding increase in perceptual speed.

Conclusions:

Subjective time is not a single entity but comprises separable subcomponents.
Time-slowing during frightening events appears to be a function of memory encoding, not perception.
Richer memory encoding of salient events can lead to retrospective duration dilation.