The more crowded the train or bus, the slower time seems to pass for each person.
If you find yourself on a crowded bus or train, all you can do is pray that you will reach your destination as soon as possible. However, the experience of time will be completely the opposite.
Our perception of time is influenced by subjective emotions and the complexity of the situation. This is why many people often say that happy moments seem to fly by, while painful moments drag on.
Human experiences are influenced by subjective emotions and the complexity of the situation.
Previous studies have examined changes in time perception through computer-assisted tasks and stimuli, but does this hold true in real-world situations?
To investigate this, a research team at Cornell University in the United States used a realistic VR application to recreate the interior of a train. Their goal was to test how perceived time changes with varying levels of crowding.
You can watch the video below about the application developed by the research team.
VR experiment on a crowded subway train
Forty-one participants aged 19 to 51 took part in the experiment, wearing VR goggles to experience a simulated journey inside a subway train at different levels and durations of crowding. The journey began with boarding a train resembling a subway in New York City, hearing the announcement “Please stand clear of the closing doors”, and after the doors closed, the train departed, accelerating to the next station with a bell ringing to signal that the journey was complete.
The level of crowding in the train car varied between “one person per square meter (35 people in the car)” and “five people per square meter (175 people in the car).” Participants in the experiment could move around and look at their surroundings. The research team indicated that the avatars of passengers were created to replicate natural human behaviors, such as changing standing positions, reading books, and looking at their phones.
The duration of the virtual trip was randomly assigned to 60 seconds, 70 seconds, and 80 seconds, with each participant experiencing a total of five virtual trips at different levels of crowding. After each virtual trip, participants reported their level of discomfort or comfort on a scale from 1 to 7, while also being asked to estimate the duration of the virtual trip as accurately as possible.
Crowded trains make us feel like time is longer.
According to the results of the experiment, it was found that perceived travel time increased by an average of 1.8 seconds for each additional person per square meter. In the most crowded train, the estimated travel time increased by about 10% compared to the least crowded train. The change in perceived time was related to the level of comfort and discomfort during the trip, and the research team suggested that this might be due to the invasion of personal space of the participants caused by overcrowding.
“It creates a feeling that makes the trip feel longer,” said Dr. Saedeh Sadeghi, the lead author of the report.
“This study shows how our daily experiences and subjective emotions can profoundly distort our perception of time,” said co-author Adam Anderson, a psychology professor at Cornell University. “Time is not just a clock display. It changes depending on how we perceive it as a resource and how we evaluate it.”
According to calculations, the average commuting time for Americans using public transportation is over 60 minutes. Based on the results of this study, the perceived commuting time for these workers increases by an additional 24 hours a year when public transport is overcrowded. This is also believed to be the reason why many people choose to commute by personal car instead of public transportation. The research team believes that the findings of this study could help engineers improve the design of public transport to provide a better experience for users.
