Memorable1 Pictures Slow Our Sense2 of Time 容易记忆的图片会放慢时间知觉

Looking at a memorable picture slows our sense of time， according to a newstudy. And the longer people think they have looked at an picture， the more likely3they are to remember it.

The new study is the result of a group of experiments4 by researchers atGeorge Mason University in the US. In the first two experiments， two groups ofaround 50 people each were shown pictures of scenes5. They have different sizes andnumbers of clutter6. For example， a small scene with a lot of clutter might be a fullcupboard， and a large scene without much clutter might be an empty warehouse7.

People were shown each picture for under a second and asked to press a buttonto show whether it was shown for a“long”or“short”time.

The results of both experiments showed that when people saw large scenes withlittle clutter， they were likely to think they had been looking at them for longer thanthey really had. And the opposite8 effect9 was true when seeing small scenes withlots of clutter.

In next experiments， the researchers showed 69 people some pictures that hadalready been rated10 for memorability11. They were more likely to think they hadbeen looking at more memorable pictures for longer than they really had. And thelonger they thought they had been looking at a picture， the more likely they were toremember it the next day.

When our sense of time slows down， it might help us get more information ifwe’re looking at something important. If we want to make time go more slowly， weshould do things that are new and interesting.

根据一项新的研究，看一张容易记忆的图片会减缓我们对时间的感知。人们认知中自己曾观看一张图片的时间越长，他们就越有可能会记住它。

这项新研究是美国乔治梅森大学研究人员一组实验的结果。在最初的两个实验中，研究者向两组大约50 名参与者每人都展示了有场景的图片，这些场景里有不同大小和数量的杂物。例如，有很多杂物的小场景可能是一个满满的橱柜，而没有太多杂物的大场景可能是一个空仓库。

参与者看每张图片的时间不到一秒钟，还要按下一个按钮来表示这张照片的播放时间是“长”还是“短”。

两个实验的结果都表明，当参与者看到没有杂物的大场景时，他们可能会认为自己已经看了比实际更长的时间。当看到杂乱的小场景时，则正好相反。

在接下来的实验中，研究人员向69 名参与者展示了一些已经被评定为好记的图片。参与者更有可能认为他们看容易记住的图片花的时间比实际要长。他们认为自己看一张图片的时间越长，第二天就越有可能记住它。

当我们的时间知觉变慢时，如果我们在看重要的东西，它可能会帮助我们获得更多信息。如果我们想让时间过得慢一些，应该去做一些新奇又有趣的事情。

▏Notes

1. memorable 难忘的；值得纪念的

2. sense 感觉官能

3. likely 可能发生的

4. experiment 实验；试验

5. scene 事发地；现场；事件；场面

6. clutter 杂乱的东西；杂乱

7. warehouse 仓库；货栈；货仓

8. opposite 完全相反的；截然不同的

9. effect 作用；影响

10. rate 评价；评定；被认为；被列为

11. memorability 值得记忆；难忘的人