Now = 3 Second Window of Experience
Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Our brains are designed to parse experience into three second windows. It is a natural temporal unit of life. Some psychological functions and basic human acts tend to take place in 3 second bursts – taking a breath, giving a hug, waving good bye, making a decision and how long an infant babbles. Of course not everything lasts just 3 seconds but it is the temporal unit we break longer processes into.
Researchers at Dundee University have recently confirmed that the 3-second-rule holds true for giving and receiving hugs:
“This research confirmed that a hug lasts about as long as many other human actions, and supports a hypothesis that we go through life perceiving the present in a series of about three-second windows.
The three second window defines an important constraint for those interested in designing communications or other artifacts for how the mind works. It defines a natural maximum length for a single sound bite.
