Ever noticed how that boring English class drags on? Or when you’re with your friends you always wish you had more time? This sense in time perception is heavily credited to how our brains perceive time, and this article is discussing just that. Psychologist John Wearden from the University of Keele has been studying this concept of time in human brain by examining the Scalar Expectancy Theory. In this theory, humans are said to have an internal clock, which lets you estimate time. (Kraft). For example, if you watch a 10 second YouTube video, you will be able to easily tell that it is much shorter than a 2 minute music video.

Readers may be wondering how our brains are intelligent enough to keep track of time, estimate time, and speculate how long something will take. This evolutionary skill is due to the fact that our brains depend highly on patterns. Professor Dean Buonomano of UCLA discovered that our brains take in lots of sensory information, decipher the information, and then transform it to patterns that our brain can use (Kraft).

According to Buonomano, once our brain takes in all the sensory information, our brain cells make unique reactions then work diligently to leave marks of time, which let the brain interpret time (Kraft). This article makes us wonder a little more deeply every time we experience something or a certain amount of time. Or the next time we have to estimate how much time we will need in the morning for work. The brain is a complex organ in our body, and further understanding the brain to the best of our ability is the only way to move forward as a human race.

Kraft, Amy. “Unlocking the Mystery of How Your Brain Keeps Time.” The Week. Week, n.d. Web. 18 Sept.

2014. <http://theweek.com/article/index/261814/

unlocking-the-mystery-of-how-your-brain-keeps-time>.