Marc Wittmann

Erik Butler

An expert explores the riddle of subjective time, from why time speeds up as we grow older to the connection between time and consciousness.

The Psychology of How We Perceive Time

Felt Time

Zamani Nasil Deneyimleriz

Hissedilen Zaman

What altered states of consciousness—the dissolution of feelings of time and self—can tell us about the mystery of consciousness. During extraordinary moments of consciousness—shock, meditative states and sudden mystical revelations, out-of-body experiences, or drug intoxication—our senses of time and self are altered; we may even feel time and self dissolving. These experiences have long been ignored by mainstream science, or considered crazy fantasies. Recent research, however, has located the neural underpinnings of these altered states of mind. In this book, neuropsychologist Marc Wittmann shows how experiences that disturb or widen our everyday understanding of the self can help solve the mystery of consciousness. Wittmann explains that the relationship between consciousness of time and consciousness of self is close; in extreme circumstances, the experiences of space and self intensify and weaken together. He considers the emergence of the self in waking life and dreams; how our sense of time is distorted by extreme situations ranging from terror to mystical enlightenment; the experience of the moment; and the loss of time and self in such disorders as depression, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. Dostoyevsky reported godly bliss during epileptic seizures; neurologists are now investigating the phenomenon of the epileptic aura. Wittmann describes new studies of psychedelics that show how the brain builds consciousness of self and time, and discusses pilot programs that use hallucinogens to treat severe depression, anxiety, and addiction. If we want to understand our consciousness, our subjectivity, Wittmann argues, we must not be afraid to break new ground. Studying altered states of consciousness leads us directly to the heart of the matter: time and self, the foundations of consciousness.

Experiences Out of Time and Self

Altered States of Consciousness

Yoonsuck Choe

 Michail Maniadakis

 Sylvie Droit-Volet

From the moment of birth, humans and animals are immersed in time: all experiences and actions evolve in time and are dynamically structured. The perception of time is thus a capacity indispensable for the control of perception, cognition and action. The last 10 years have witnessed a remarkable resurgence of interest in timing and time perception, with a continuously increasing number of researchers exploring these innate abilities. However, existing robotic systems largely neglect the key role of time in cognition and action. This is a major barrier for accomplishing the long-term goal of symbiotic human-robot interaction. The critical question is: how is time instantiated in a biological system and how can it be implemented in an artificial system? Recent years have for example seen an increasing focus on the relationship between affective states and the experience of time. The influence of affective states on subjective time seems to depend on the embodiment of emotions: intertwined affective and interoceptive states may create our subjective experience of time. Since robotic systems are in essence embodied information-processing systems that interact with the real world, we hope to inspire a reciprocal exchange of ideas between the field of Robotics and the Cognitive Neurosciences. In this research topic, we call researchers from different disciplines (Robotics, Neurosciences, and Psychology) to present their empirical work, their models or reviews on the question of how time judgments are instantiated in biological and artificial systems. Of particular interest are papers on time perception in humans and animals, with a focused interest on embodied time perception, i.e. the influence of affective and body states on time judgments. Moreover, the present Research Topic seeks to gather papers discussing the key role of time on different aspects of robotic cognition as well as modeling approaches. We are interested in paving the way for a new generation of intelligent computational systems that incorporate the sense of time in their processing loop and thus accomplish more efficient and more advanced cognitive capacities.

Towards embodied artificial cognition: TIME is on my side

Top Secret Révélations d'un Univers étonnant 2ème partie A

Psychologie und Hirnforschung ist es in den letzten Jahren gelungen, unseren Zeitsinn zu enträtseln. Der Leser des Buches erfährt, wie unser Gehirn wirklich tickt und wie wir zu unserem Gefühl von zeitlicher Dauer kommen. Er lernt, dass der Umgang mit der Zeit für Erfolg im Leben wichtiger ist als etwa der IQ. Wir sind unserem Zeitgefühl nicht hilflos ausgeliefert, sondern können es durch Achtsamkeit beeinflussen. Gefühlte Zeit bestimmt unsere Entscheidungen im Alltag: Sollen wir auf den Aufzug warten oder die Treppen nehmen, stelle ich mich jetzt in die Schlange oder komme ich später wieder? Ökonomische Fragen sind zeitabhängig: Soll ich mein Geld langfristig anlegen oder für mein Traumauto ausgeben? Gefühlte Zeit bestimmt aber auch unser Verhältnis zum Älterwerden: Auf einmal spüren wir, dass wir nicht mehr der junge Mensch sind, für den wir uns immer hielten. Mit Erschrecken bemerken wir, dass mit zunehmendem Alter die Zeit immer schneller vergeht. Unsere Erfahrung von Zeit sagt etwas über uns selbst aus. Wir sind gewissermaßen die Zeit, unser Zeitgefühl reflektiert unsere Lebensweise und unser Selbst. Zum geglückten Leben gehört ein reifer Umgang mit der gefühlten Zeit – im Augenblick wie aufs Ganze des Lebens gesehen.

Kleine Psychologie des Zeitempfindens

Gefühlte Zeit

Top Secret Révélations d'un Univers étonnant 1ère partie Marc Wittmann

Marc Wittmann

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