Aging and the experience of ‘remembered’ time: A biopsychosocial exploration

Abstract

Though considerable research has been conducted on the subjective experience of time periods of short duration, little has been written about acceleration of long intervals of remembered time with age. The author reviews and assesses psychosocial, biological, and mathematical considerations contributing toward a comprehensive understanding of why the years seem to ‘fly by’ increasingly more rapidly. In particular, it is suggested that the powerful impact of social acceleration on our subjective sense of the passage of time may affect us differently at various stages in the life cycle.