AI Translated from Chinese

Main Text

A concept I coined: within a certain time period, the greater the density of non-familiar information received, the greater the temporal experience density, and the slower the subjective passage of time. Here, non-familiar information can be defined as experiences that are not easily repeated in daily life, brand new experiences. Common in travel, attending同人 conventions, listening to Live performances, participating in large competitions, etc.

For example, this #2025广州THO_东方乐典, a three-day two-night trip, felt like it lasted three weeks. Probably because daily life is ordinary, with similar schedules each day, and most of what I encounter is familiar information; while this trip was packed full — meeting online friends in person, playing radio, running THO, listening to Live performances — stimulating nerves that had been relaxed for a long time, with non-stop fresh experiences.

I’m not sure if psychology already has a similar concept?

(I asked an LLM, and it actually does exist)

LLM

Hunyuan

Your “temporal experience density” concept is highly aligned with multiple research directions in psychology, especially in the fields of time perception. The following is a comprehensive analysis from perspectives including conceptual relationships, neural mechanisms, influencing factors, and application scenarios:

1. Relationship with Psychological Concepts

1. Time Folding Effect This effect refers to the brain compressing or extending subjective time perception through information density and memory encoding methods. When new experiences (like travel, learning new skills) bring high-density, high-complexity sensory input, the brain encodes them as richer memory fragments, creating the illusion of “time being stretched” when recalled. For example, childhood vacations are perceived as long due to many novel experiences, while repetitive adult life appears short due to sparse memory.

2. Experiential Density and Time Perception Psychology research proposes that experiential density is a core variable affecting time perception. High-density experiences (like dense new information, emotional fluctuations) enhance the subjective continuity of time, while low-density experiences (like repetitive tasks) lead to time compression. For example, frequent face-to-face meetings, radio activities, and other new stimuli at the THO convention significantly increased experiential density, making the two-day trip perceived as longer.

3. Attentional Resource Allocation Theory The brain regulates time perception through an attention gate model: when attention is concentrated on novel stimuli, the internal clock’s pulse count decreases, and subjective time passes faster; conversely, if attention is scattered or forced to process redundant information, the pulse count increases, extending time perception. In your case, the high focus and novelty of THO activities may have triggered dynamic allocation of attention, leading to increased temporal experience density.

2. Neural Mechanism Support

1. Basal Ganglia and Dopamine System The basal ganglia are responsible for time interval encoding, while dopamine levels affect its estimation of time intervals. Novel experiences activate dopaminergic pathways, enhance neuronal firing frequency, and lead to improved subjective time resolution (i.e., finer time division), thus extending体感 time.

2. Hippocampus and Episodic Memory Integration The hippocampus constructs spatiotemporal memory by integrating sensory input. High-density novel experiences trigger hippocampal-prefrontal cortex synergy, forming more complex memory networks, creating a “time expansion” effect when recalling due to the large amount of information.

3. Default Mode Network (DMN) Suppression When the brain is in a flow state (like focusing on listening to Live, participating in radio activities), default mode network activity decreases, and prefrontal-parietal network-dominated self-referential processing enhancement suppresses monitoring of time passage.

3. Extended Influencing Factors

1. Emotional Intensity Positive emotions (like excitement, curiosity) extend subjective time by suppressing the amygdala’s attention to threat signals and reducing resource allocation to time-monitoring brain regions (like basal ganglia).

2. Cognitive Load High-difficulty tasks (like learning new skills) require more cognitive resources, reducing processing of time information, leading to time compression; however, if tasks have both novelty and challenge (like multi-threaded experiences at THO activities), they may extend time perception due to the combined effect of emotional arousal and information overload.

3. Cultural Background Eastern cultural perception of cyclical time (like solar terms, festivals) may enhance memory anchors for dense events, while Western linear time view relies more on physical timing tools. Your experience may be influenced by cultural habits, making it easier to encode new event sequences as “non-repeating time blocks.”

4. Application Scenarios and Suggestions

1. Time Management Optimization

  • Proactively design high-density experiences: increase experiential density through travel, skill learning, etc., to alleviate daily time compression feelings.
  • Break repetition: regularly change commuting routes, try new activities, using the “novel stimulus → extended time perception” mechanism to enhance life experience.

2. Mental Health Intervention

  • Mindfulness training: reduce attention dispersion through meditation, enhance awareness of time passage, relieve anxious time compression.
  • Post-traumatic stress: use time expansion experiences (like memory reconstruction) to help patients reintegrate the temporal dimension of traumatic memories.

3. Art and Design

  • Film editing: use rapid shot switching (high information density) to create “slow-motion” effects, strengthening audience’s time perception.
  • Game design: use task nesting and multi-threaded gameplay to extend players’ subjective game time without increasing actual time spent.

5. Summary

Your “temporal experience density” concept is highly consistent with the time folding effect, experiential density theory, and attentional resource allocation model in psychology. Its core lies in how novel stimuli reshape subjective time perception by changing information processing patterns and memory encoding intensity. Future work could further combine neuroimaging (like fMRI) to verify the effects of different activity types on time perception-related brain regions, or explore practical value in education and user experience design.

ChatGPT-4o In-depth Research

Got it, I’ll help you search for theories or terms in psychology that are similar to your “temporal experience density” concept, covering cognitive psychology, time perception, attention and memory, etc., in both Chinese and English.

I’ll organize and tell you as soon as possible which existing concepts are related to “the more fresh information experienced in limited time, the slower the perceived time.”

Overview of “Temporal Experience Density” Phenomenon

The “temporal experience density” proposed by the user refers to the more events or novel information experienced in the same time period, the slower the subject perceives time. This phenomenon is related to rich stimulation scenarios like travel, conventions, concerts. Psychology research shows: retrospectively, experiencing rich and diverse events makes a time period’s memory fuller, thus feeling longer. For example, research notes: “The return trip usually feels shorter than the outbound trip, possibly because the novelty of the scenery along the way is gone”; news reports also mention that traveling to a new city for the first time makes time feel particularly long. In short, at the memory level, multiple events and changes correspond to more encoded content, thus giving the impression of “extended time.”

Memory Perspective: Contextual Change and Storage Volume

Memory models (storage-size/contextual-change models) emphasize that the more and more complex events remembered within a time period, the longer the perceived duration retrospectively. Classic research finds: time periods containing multiple different tasks or events are remembered as longer by subjects. Both James (1890) and Ornstein (1969) pointed out: “The more productive the memory,” the larger the information storage capacity, the longer the subjective duration feels. For example, children experience many “firsts” in childhood, these novel experiences are deeply impressed in their minds, feeling full when recalled; while adult life tends to be daily repetition, with reduced recalled content, leading to feeling time compression and passing faster. These evidences match the “temporal experience density” emphasis on more experiences → longer time.

Attention and Cognitive Load

From prospective time estimation, attention and task load play key roles. The attention-gating model believes that when attention is more concentrated on current events (rather than time itself), internal clock pulses increase and duration is underestimated; conversely, when idle and bored, attention falls on time passage, feeling time slower. Meta-analysis finds: Under high cognitive load for time estimation, if subjects know in advance they will be timed (prospective task), subjective time ratio decreases (underestimate duration); but if recalled afterward (retrospective task), high load反而 makes duration perception larger. In other words, in busy and complex experiences, the person often feels “time flies,” but looking back feels “experienced more,” reflecting the bidirectional influence of load on time perception. Regarding “temporal experience density,” if viewed as retrospective feeling, high event density does match longer time perception; but from a prospective perspective, this contradicts the common saying “time flies when multitasking.” Overall, the user’s concept is more aligned with retrospective time perception and memory richness perspective, which has been validated by multiple psychology studies, but academic terms are mainly expressed around “event density,” “time expansion,” etc.

Novelty Impact

Novel stimuli usually expand subjective time perception. Repeated stimuli are perceived as shorter due to neural adaptation, while suddenly appearing novel stimuli are felt as longer. Eagleman et al. found that video clips of the same duration played in slow motion (low novelty) are反而 perceived by observers as having passed in less time; extensive psychology research also shows that novel things make people feel duration unusually long. Similarly, in “rare stimulus” experiments (oddball paradigm), low-probability novel stimuli are often estimated as lasting longer (i.e., subjective time expansion). All this说明: novelty captures attention and enriches information encoding, thus stretching time perception. This is consistent with what the user said: “more novel information → slower time.”

Psychology literature doesn’t have “temporal experience density” as a standard term, but there are several related expressions:

  • Experience/Event Density: Refers to the number of events or experiences per unit time. The “event-density hypothesis” in literature proposes that event quantity affects time perception, although this hypothesis is generally used to explain “more events → time compression (faster).”
  • Subjective Time Expansion/Dilation: Used to describe the phenomenon of subjective duration extension during novel stimuli or emotional peaks. In research, novel/rare stimuli are often considered to “appear to last longer.”
  • Storage-size Hypothesis, Contextual-change Hypothesis: Emphasize the relationship between memory encoding volume or cognitive context change and duration estimation. Though not used to describe “experience density,” the meaning is close.
  • In Chinese online or popular science, people also use “experience density,” “event density” to describe similar feelings. For example, articles point out “fresh experiences make the brain form deeper memories, traveling to a new city for the first time feels time particularly long.”
Chinese Discussion and Comparison

Domestic media and forums already have similar discussions. For example, Sina Finance column mentions “the first time taking the train felt time long,” “many ‘firsts’ in childhood, fresh unique experiences are deeply imprinted in the mind”; Vancouver Sky Health column also emphasizes “novel things make the brain process more actively, memory richer,” so looking back “feel time longer.” These discussions match the “temporal experience density” concept: the more novel experiences, the more and longer time feels when recalling.

Summary: “Temporal experience density” is closest to event/experience density in memory models from psychology. Related theories (like storage-size hypothesis, contextual-change hypothesis) all believe that multiple events or novel experiences extend subjective duration. In English, it can be approximately said as “experience/event density” or “subjective time expansion.” It should be noted that traditional prospective time perception research (like attention-gating model, etc.) often points out that the more events, the more complex tasks people feel time passes faster; this differs from the “temporal experience density” hypothesis of more experiences → slower. Overall, the user’s concept is more aligned with retrospective time perception and memory richness perspective, which has been validated by multiple studies, but academic terms mainly revolve around “event density,” “time expansion,” etc.

Main References: Classic research on contextual-change model by Block and Reed (1978), etc.; research by Eagleman (2009) on repeated and novel stimuli effects on time perception; and recent reviews on time perception and event density. Chinese online articles like Sina Finance, Vancouver Sky also provide popular explanations for this phenomenon. The above materials help us understand the psychological background and similar concepts of “temporal experience density.”

Allen: Organize a more refined, systematic definition version that retains my intuition while being close to psychological terminology

Of course, this is a refined, systematic version that retains your original intuition while expressing it in psychological terms:

🧠 Temporal Experience Density

Definition: Temporal Experience Density refers to the density of novel, non-automated, context-changing experiential information received by an individual within a specific time period. The higher the temporal experience density, the slower the individual’s subjective perception of time passing, and the more likely they are to feel it “content-rich, time lengthy” when reviewing that period.

Supplementary Notes (optional for academic or popular science occasions):

  • This concept integrates understanding of retrospective time perception, contextual-change hypothesis, and novelty encoding in psychology.
  • High temporal experience density often appears during travel, conventions, first-time social interactions, periods when many varied tasks are concentrated.
  • Opposite to “time flies,” it emphasizes: the denser the experience, the richer the memory, the more “stretched” the subjective time experience.

If you’re willing to continue developing this concept, it could perfectly be used as a psychology essay, lecture content, even as an “independent variable setting” for formal papers. Let me know if you want me to help with a terminology map or visualization.