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14 - Time Perception from Seconds to Lifetimes: How Perceived Time Affects Adult Development

from Part II - Mechanisms of Cognitive Aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2020

By
Hsiao-Wen Liao ,
Sabine Hommelhoff  and
Laura L. Carstensen
Edited by
Ayanna K. Thomas  and
Angela Gutchess
Ayanna K. Thomas
Affiliation:
Tufts University, Massachusetts
Angela Gutchess
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
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Summary

This chapter considers ways that perceived time – both at the level of seconds and lifetimes – may influence adult development. Research suggests that age-related impairments in divided attention contribute to older adults’ underestimation of short-term duration judgments. A separate literature suggests that perceived constraints on future time lead to the prioritization of emotionally meaningful goals. We consider ways that these two research streams may inform one another. Findings about duration judgments may help to explain age-related time acceleration that affects perceptions of the future. Findings about motivational changes associated with perceived constraints on time may influence attention in ways that reduce accuracy of duration judgments. We urge joint consideration of these literatures in hypothesis generation about developmental trajectories of cognitive processing, motivation, and emotional well-being.

Keywords

bottom-up processingdivided attentiondual-task procedureemotionally meaningful goalsfuture time horizonsgoal pursuitinternal clockknowledge acquisition goalspositivity effectprospective duration judgmentsretrospective duration judgmentsselective attentionself-continuitysocioemotional selectivity theorytime accelerationtime perceptiontop-down processing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Aging
A Life Course Perspective
 , pp. 254 - 272
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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