We all know the feeling of being transported by a lilting melody, or enraptured by a rhapsody that seems to mute our senses to all else but its divine resonance.
Yet we may not realise that music is a powerful medium which can actually affect the way we perceive the world; science has proved that it alters our brain functions and can have a positive effect on brain development in infants.
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"Haste makes waste"–it’s an old adage, but it turns out to be true: Our brains make more mistakes when we act too quickly. Because the brain must make snap decisions based on less information than it uses for slower decisions, the likelihood that it will make mistakes increases.
A new study shows that the brain actually switches into a special mode when pushed to make rapid decisions.
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By paying attention to our body clocks, we can figure out what times we function best at certain tasks, and decide whether to put them aside for later–or do them right away. This can range from manual tasks to creative thinking to the best time to take a nap.
Many of us are locked into schedules at home or at work, but when we DO have a choice, it’s important to know what will be the most productive choice to make. Disruption of circadian rhythms (our body’s natural clock) has been linked to diabetes, depression, dementia and obesity.
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We may not be able to manipulate the speed of light, but by tinkering with the neural connections that indicate its passage in our brains, we may be able to alter the speed of time–or at least with how fast the human brain PERCEIVES it to be. New research suggests timekeeping in the brain is decentralized, with different neural circuits having their own timing mechanisms for specific activities.
This explains why, under certain conditions, the subjective sense of how much time has passed feels different. For instance,. time seems to drag slowly when we’re taking a test and to speed by when we’re having fun.
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