评论
打印
At some point, you've probably heard your family or neighbors mention how time flies as you get older.
在某些时候，你可能会听到你的家人或邻居提到，随着年龄的增长时间过得有多快。
Maybe you've even looked back on the last few years and noticed it yourself.
回顾过去几年，也许你自己也注意到了。
Like, there's no way you just graduated.
比如，你不可能刚毕业，
Freshman year feels like it was a few months ago.
大一给你的感觉就像几个月前一样。
The idea that time passes more quickly as you age is a pretty common one, and there are a lot of potential reasons it might happen.
人们普遍认为，随着年龄的增长时间会过得越来越快，而且可能会有很多潜在的原因。
But the good news is, no matter what trick of the brain is causing this phenomenon, you can probably do something to stop it.
但好消息是，不管大脑是如何引起这种现象的，你都可以做些什么来阻止它。
There are all kinds of ways we measure the passage of time.
我们有各种各样的方法来衡量时间的流逝。
One is time estimation, or how fast the clock seems to be ticking.
一个是时间估计，也就是时钟的滴答声有多快。
Researchers test this by asking people to guess when a minute has passed, or things like that.
研究人员通过让人们猜测一分钟什么时候过去或诸如此类的事情来验证这一点。
The one that's most relevant to why time flies as you get older, though, is time perception.
然而，随着年龄的增长，对于时间飞逝的最佳解释是时间观念。
This is how psychologists describe how fast time seems to pass when we think about events.
心理学家是这样描述我们思考事情时，时间过得有多快的。
Multiple studies have shown that things like our time estimation ability don't change over the course of our lives.
多项研究表明，像我们对时间的估计能力这样的东西不会随着生命而改变。
But time perception does.
但是时间感知是这样的。
In one 2010 paper from the journal Acta Psychologica, researchers reviewed previous studies and then conducted two new ones of their own.
2010年《心理学报》发表的一篇论文中，研究人员回顾了之前的研究，然后进行了两项新的研究。
In total, they analyzed survey results from almost 2000 participants, who were anywhere from 16 to 80 years old.
总的来说，他们分析了近2000名参与者的调查结果，这些参与者的年龄从16岁到80岁不等。
In one experiment, participants were asked to rate how fast certain periods of time had gone on a five-point scale, from "very slow" to "very fast.
在一项实验中，参与者被要求对某段时间的变化速度从“非常慢”到“非常快”进行五分制评分。
The researchers found that, when asked how long the last hour, month, or year had gone, all participants said it passed at about a normal speed, no matter their age.
研究人员发现，当被问及过去的一个小时、一个月或一年过去了多长时间时，所有参与者都表示，无论年龄大小，过去的时间都以正常速度流逝。
The real difference came when participants were asked how long the last decade had gone.
当参与者被问及过去十年已经过去了多长时间，真正的区别来了。
It wasn't a dramatic difference, but the older people got, the more quickly they tended to say time had passed.
区别并不明显，但是年纪越大的人越容易说时间已经过去了。
Still, it's not clear what would happen to cause this shift in perception.
不过，还不清楚究竟是什么导致这种看法的转变。
Some hypotheses say that you had more new experiences as a kid, like your first lost tooth, or your first soccer game.
一些假设认为，小时候有更多的新经历，比如你掉的第一颗牙，或者你的第一场足球比赛。
So there's more to remember from back then.
那时候还有很多东西需要记住。
Meanwhile, your adult life feels a lot less novel and, as one paper put it, "grows hollow and collapses."
与此同时，你的成年生活感觉没那么新奇了，就像一篇论文所说的，“变得空洞而崩溃”。
Which is… lovely.
描述的很好。
Another idea is the ratio model, which says that time ticks by more slowly when you're younger because you haven't been around as long.
另一种观点是比率模型，该模型认为，年轻的时候，时间过得比较慢，因为你没有经历那么长的时间。
Like, when you're eight, a year feels like forever because you've only been alive for eight years.
当你八岁的时候，一年感觉就像永远，因为你只生活了八年。
But when you're eighty, a year isn't as significant in the grand scheme of your life.
但当你80岁时，一年在你漫长的一生中没有那么重要。
There's also a hypothesis called forward telescoping, which describes how we tend to underestimate how long ago important things happened.
还有一种假设叫做正向伸缩，它讲述了我们如何低估很久以前发生的重要事情。
It's why you can't believe High School Musical actually came out over ten years ago,
这就是为什么你不相信高中音乐剧十多年前就出来了，
and why you suddenly feel really old when you think about it.
为什么一想到它，你就会突然觉得自己老了。
Right now, all of these ideas have some evidence to support them, but there's not a real winner yet.
目前，所有这些想法都有一些证据支持，但还没有真正的赢家。
They're also difficult to test in a lab, so we may never be able to conclusively prove any of them.
它们也很难在实验室里测试，所以我们可能永远无法最终证明任何一个想法。
But there is one, newer idea we could prove, one that suggests that time whizzes by as you get older because of how your body chemistry changes.
但是我们可以证明一个新一点的想法，即随着年龄的增长，时间会随着人体内化学物质的变化而流逝。
See, as you grow up, your body produces less dopamine, a neurotransmitter that's usually associated with things like motivation and reward.
随着长大，你的身体会产生更少的多巴胺，多巴胺是一种神经递质，通常与动机和奖励有关。
But, at least in mice, research has shown that the amount of dopamine in the body can also affect time perception.
但是，至少在老鼠身上的研究表明，体内多巴胺的数量也会影响时间感知。
In a 2016 study, published in the journal Science, mice were taught to use sensors to signal whether the interval between two sounds was longer or shorter than 1.5 seconds.
2016年发表在《科学》杂志上的一项研究中，研究人员教老鼠使用传感器来判断两种声音之间的间隔是长还是短于1.5秒。
Originally, all of the mice were really good at this.
最初，所有的老鼠都擅长判断。
But when they had their dopamine-producing cells stimulated, they tended to think that interval was longer than it really was.
但是当他们刺激产生多巴胺的细胞时，老鼠倾向于认为间隔时间比实际时间要长。
And when they had those cells suppressed, they thought it was shorter.
当他们抑制这些细胞时，老鼠认为时间更短。
According to the researchers, this suggests that extra dopamine causes mice to experience time as passing more slowly in general.
研究人员表示，一般来说，额外的多巴胺会让老鼠感觉时间过得更慢。
So maybe this could also apply to humans.
所以，这一结论可能也适用于人类。
There's already some evidence:
已经有一些证据能证明：
Parkinson's patients, who typically have low dopamine levels, have been shown to underestimate how fast time is going,
通常帕金森氏症患者的多巴胺水平较低，研究显示这些患者低估了时间过得有多快。
like if they're asked to reproduce the tempo of a piece of music.
比如他们被要求复制一段音乐节奏。
More studies about long-term time perception in these patients would be helpful.
更多关于这些患者长时间感知的研究将会有所帮助。
But in general, it's a promising idea, and one that might be easier to research in a lab.
但总的来说，这是一个很有希望的想法，而且在实验室里研究起来可能更容易。
Even though we don't know exactly why this time phenomenon happens, there could be some ways to stop it from happening, depending on what's causing it.
虽然我们不知道为什么会发生这种现象，但是我们可以依靠产生的原因通过一些方法来阻止这一现象的发生，
Like, you could try more new things, so that you have more to reflect on later.
比如，你可以尝试更多的新事物，这样你以后会有更多的反思。
Or you could do more things that are really exciting and fun for you, so that your dopamine levels are generally higher.
或者你可以做更多让你兴奋和开心的事情，这样你的多巴胺水平就会更高。
You could also just accept that High School Musical really did come out over a decade ago, and so what if you're a little older.
你也可以接受《歌舞青春》在十多年前就已经问世的消息，如果你再长大一点会怎么样呢?
There's no guarantee that any of these things will make your life seem longer,
没有人能保证这些事情会让你的生命看起来更长，
but a life full of new and fun experiences definitely can't hurt.
新鲜有趣的生活绝对不会有坏处。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看本期心理科学秀！
If you love learning about the world as much as we do, you can help us introduce science to the next generation by checking out SciShow Kids.
如果你和我们一样喜欢了解这个世界，你可以通过查看少儿科学秀帮助我们向下一代介绍科学。
It might not make your life pass more slowly, but it will hopefully inspire curiosity and excitement in the world's future psychologists.
它可能不会让你的生活过得更慢，但它有望激发未来心理学家的好奇心和激情。
You can visit the channel and subscribe at youtube.com/scishowkids.
你可以访问这个频道，并在youtube.com/scishowkids上订阅我们的节目。
