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When we are on vacation, it seems that time is slipping through our fingers. We just arrived and we need to get ready to go back. But after returning, we can share our impressions with friends for hours. The “holiday effect” occurs because our habitual perception of time is disrupted.
Vacation time brings fresh air into our lives, fills us with energy and leaves pleasant memories. But why, no matter how intense the holiday, it always ends so quickly? It is as if we are watching events in fast forward mode, and the memories of good days are given to us on a separate disk and recorded directly in the brain. This paradox, known as the vacation effect, is described by journalist and science communicator Claudia Hammond in her book Time Distorted: The Secrets of Our Perception of Time*.
“The key elements that shape our perception of time are memories and markers of time (events, experiences, impressions). Vacation creates the ideal conditions for time to pass quickly for us – it breaks the everyday routine and monotony. At the same time, we get a lot of new visual and sound experiences that occupy our attention. When you return home, another element comes into play – memory. The reason you feel like you haven’t been home in years is because you’ve been through a lot more this week than you would in a week of normal life. Thus, our subjective perception of a time period does not depend on its actual length, but on how many of our memories are associated with it.
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The vacation paradox arises because our minds perceive time in two different ways—prospectively and retrospectively. When we monitor what we are doing and what we are thinking at the moment, we evaluate time prospectively. If we focus on the past, we are talking about retrospective perception. Usually these two perceptions coincide, but sometimes this does not happen, and then we experience distortions over time.
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We resort to prospective and retrospective evaluation of time all the time. When life goes on smoothly, both perceptions coincide, giving us the feeling that the days and weeks pass at a normal pace. There are time markers that allow us to measure time periods, such as the beginning and end of the day, lunch break, favorite TV show, evening rituals. The days follow the same rhythm. Even the variety introduced by new events is somewhat predictable (we remember six to nine new events a day). Prospective and retrospective perceptions of time are in balance. But unusual experiences can upset this balance. During the holidays, we rarely look at the clock, the usual routine is broken. We are so absorbed in our sensations that prospective time moves in leaps and bounds for us. Retrospective time is based on our experiences, on the number of new impressions. Sometimes switching from one mode to another happens very abruptly. Therefore, we will not be able to get used to the “vacation paradox”. We will continue to perceive the flow of time in different planes and each time we will be surprised at what tricks time is doing with us.
* C. Hammond «Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception» (Canongate Books, 2013).