Pact of aging (Elderly group) on time perception, A comparative study between young and elderly subject Dr Bhatt Janardean V MD, (Medicine), MD, PhD (Physiology) Prof and Head, Physiology and program officer, NSS UNIT, AMCMET medical college, Maninagar, Ahmedabad. Pin.-380008. Email: jvbhattin@yahoo.com Online published on 17 February, 2017. Abstract Back Ground One side the researchers in Physics are trying to find out the true nature of time, from where it come and when it will end. On the other hand neuro physiologist and neuro psychologists are trying to search out how brain and mind can perceive time. An old age belief ‘'time flew as we age' ’is tried to validate by many scientists. It means that time pass rapidly in elderly people. Though it appears that we do not have any sense organ to perceive time as we have sense organs for i.e. touch, taste, smell, …And our temporal perception is a product of function of cerebrum. Illusive nature of time is very well discussed in psychology, philosophy and metaphysics. It is understood from the studies from chrono biology that there is a internal clock in our brain to regulate circadian rhythms by getting information from suprachaismatic nucleus of hypothalamus by receiving light information retina. The cerebrum try to synchronize the internal clock with human made external clocks. In this study we have tried to study the impact of aging on time perception by two minute (120 seconds) time perception test and compared the results similar test conducted among the healthy young volunteers and other scientists. Method The data were collected from subject attended various NSS camp set ups organized by NSS unit AMCMET medical college Ahmedabad. The subjects were divided into two groups 1 N1: group consisting young group was medical students of mean age 19.17 sd 8.54 and 2 N2: elderly group was residents of elderly houses mean age 66.9 sd 8.38 Instrument required: smart phone stop watch function to calculate two minutes. Instrument required: smart phone stop watch function to calculate two minutes. Result Mean seconds perceived during two minute perception test was statistically lower significantly amongst elderly group compared by youngster group. There was a significant distortion of time perception observed amongst elderly group Conclusion The study concluded the fact that time perception is distorted among elderly people. Though the reliable test is awaiting for time perception more researches are required to generate the new valid tests to assess the time perception. How does the time perception matters? Time perception, chronometric capacity and its alteration with aging is a challenging research topic in physiology and medicine. The results are this study are to be dealt with caution due to methodological limitations. Though it is worth to mention that Temporal perception is essential when detecting rapidly presented stimulus information i.e. driving in traffic. Altered time perception among elderly is an issue while driving a moped or a car. As in driving in traffic, the time perception is essential for safer driving from safety of individual and general population point of view. To understand temporal illusions a cross-multi disciplinary approach is required to develop valid tests for time perception. It further needed to develop new methods and combined with techniques employing electrophysiology, EEG, fMRI with the hope that the time illusions will light the way to understanding general outstanding questions of time perception. Faster “internal-clock ”in the older need to further documented with other neuropsychological tools to measure time perception and to study temporal perception with aging. These tests are potentially a useful tool to measure subjective perception of time. They also corroborate the hypothesis of a change in subjective time perception with aging and studies done by other scientists. Top Keywords Two minute (120 seconds) time perception test, elderly and young group. Time, perception. Top |