In life, there are some people who are never on time, whether it’s for a lunch date or a business meeting.
According to experts, chronic lateness may be related to several factors, including time perception, time management, and individual personality traits.
Is it due to brain mechanisms?
A mechanism in the brain may cause some people to be late.
According to Professor Hugo Spiers, a cognitive neuroscience expert at University College London (UK), “A mechanism in the brain may cause some people to be late, as they underestimate the time needed to get there.”
In a 2017 publication in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Spiers indicated that the hippocampus is the brain region responsible for processing various aspects of time, such as remembering when to do something and how long it takes to carry it out.
Neurons in the hippocampus act as “time cells,” contributing to our perception and memory of events; however, why some individuals have an inaccurate perception of time remains not fully understood.
In his study, Professor Spiers asked 20 students who had just moved to London to sketch a map of their university area and estimate travel times to different locations. The results showed that the more familiar a route was, the shorter participants perceived it to be, leading them to underestimate the time required, resulting in delays.
Another study published in the journal Memory & Cognition suggested that when estimating the time for a task, we often rely on the duration of similar tasks we have completed in the past. However, our memories and perceptions are not always accurate.
Emily Waldum, an assistant professor at Campbell University in North Carolina and lead author of a 2016 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, stated: “If we have a lot of experience performing a task, we will underestimate the time it takes to complete it.”
Environmental and Personality Factors
In her research, Professor Waldum also found that environmental factors, such as music, can affect your perception of time. She noted that while answering general knowledge questions, some people misestimated the time it took to complete tasks based on the number of songs they heard playing at that moment.
Environmental factors can affect your perception of time. (Illustrative image/INT).
Younger individuals tend to exaggerate their time estimates when they listen to four short songs compared to two longer ones. However, this phenomenon seems to have no impact on the time perception of older adults.
Another environmental factor that may contribute to lateness is crowding. In a 2022 study published in the journal Virtual Reality, researchers asked participants to estimate the time of simulated subway journeys during busy and less crowded times.
The results indicated that crowded journeys were perceived as taking 10% longer than less crowded ones, seemingly related to the unpleasant experience.
Personality also plays a role in punctuality. Waldum noted that certain personality traits and moods can lead some individuals to forget their planned tasks.
A study published in the journal Advances in Cognitive revealed that those who multitask are less likely to remember and complete scheduled tasks on time. Waldum mentioned: “Plans can fail simply because we do not allocate enough resources to carry them out.”
Grace Pacie, author of a book on this subject, noted that some latecomers may not even recognize their behavior. “We can be on time for important events, where negative consequences will occur if we are late, such as missing a flight.” However, in situations without strict deadlines, those who are late often do not arrive on time.
Some people find it challenging to be punctual because they intentionally procrastinate tasks that need to be done. Professor Fuschia Sirois from Durham University (UK) commented that tardiness can be a symptom of procrastination. This stems from a complicated emotional relationship with the tasks at hand.
So, what can habitual latecomers do to arrive on time for meetings and avoid disappointing friends and family? Researcher Grace Pacie suggests setting alarms and reminders on their phones.
Another method she has tested is setting deadlines before the event. “My favorite approach is to suggest that someone accompany you. This means you have to arrange to meet them at a reasonable time to attend an important event together,” researcher Grace Pacie stated.
