IQ and Its Relation to Time Perception: A Theory
If you were to take a set of individuals with varying levels of intelligence, and rank order them by IQ score, you would find that the speed at which they perceive time changes, relative to the mean, in an inverse manner, based upon the level of intelligence. The perceptive difference being minimal towards the center of the normal distribution of IQ, and almost incomprehensibly massive at either end of the spectrum.
— -
At every level of IQ, which can be loosely referred to as cognitive efficiency, there is a variable relative speed at which any given individual’s mind is living and working. For an individual with an extremely high IQ, this cognitive efficiency, and ability to perceive more data per second, results in a perceived existence of time itself longer than that of the population mean. For an individual with an extremely low IQ, the opposite is true. While time perception appears to be a spectrum, the focus of this essay, and the evidence presented, will be formatted around the upper end of the intelligence spectrum.
— -
This phenomenon is due, in part, to the fact that the vast majority of society has agreed upon a set standard at which passing time is constant; determined by the natural aging process and celestial body interaction, all represented by modern timekeeping devices. However, based upon the works of physicists over the past 100 years, the concept of a single speed of time has been all but disproven. General relativity and time dilation theories have clearly portrayed time as a more pliable dimension, able to be stretched and squashed indefinitely (but not reversed).
— -
Consider two hypothetical individuals: Subject A and Subject B. Subject A has an IQ of 95, an intelligence considered “Slightly Below Average”. Subject B has an IQ of 145, commonly referred to as “Exceptionally High” and “Genius Level” IQ. Subject A has a lower level of cognitive efficiency, and experiences time at a rate only slightly faster than the population mean. Subject B has an extremely high level of cognitive efficiency, and experiences time at a rate much slower than that of the population mean. The higher level of cognitive efficiency results in more information being processed, thus extending the perceived length of time, to Subject B.
— -
Some common IQ tests are built so that a test subject is able to be complete it with near perfect accuracy, if given an unlimited amount of time to find the answers. However, these tests are given so that the subjects are taken under a specified time constraint, in order to test the cognitive efficiency of the individual. An IQ test is not necessarily meant to be tests of long term memory or factual knowledge. Rather, they test your ability to solve a large amount of increasingly complex visual, mathematical and verbal problems, in a specified amount of time. Possessing great cognitive efficiency is vital to scoring high on an IQ test.
— -
High-intelligence individuals think faster than average. The literature on this is quite clear. In a study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, a group of researchers were able to define concrete differences in brain activity between individuals with varying IQ. The researchers at UCLA found that intelligence very directly correlated with brain speed. Paul Thompson Ph.D, the leader of the study, made this distinction very clear. “When you say someone is quick-thinking, it’s genuinely true… The impulses are going faster and they are just more efficient at processing information, and then making a decision based on it.” Their faster speed of comprehension allows for higher IQ individuals to take in and process a higher amount of information, proportionate to the difference in IQ, in any given amount of time. It is not simply that people who are more intelligent are able to remember more (although a good capacity for working memory is important to IQ), but their brains process, and comprehend, information at a faster rate. At each moment in time, they are at a computing rate higher than that of the population mean. The amount of information you retain following any given event is directly correlated to the length of time in which said event appears to have lasted. The most prominent example of this phenomenon is during sports or car accidents. Immediately before a life threatening or fear inducing situation, time seems to slow down for those involved. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, led by David Eagleman Ph.D, determined that this slowed time perception is a result of multiple variables, but mainly caused by increased brain activity. When in a fear driven situation, the brain works at a higher level than normal. The amygdala is at a higher work capacity, and the mind adds additional memories that are described as more dense and richer. These dense memories are seen, by the test subjects, as having taken a substantially longer amount of time than was recorded by the researchers. The subjects’ perception of time was slowed dramatically.
— -
Since the second decade of the current millennia, the general consensus has been that various animals perceive time differently. While experimenting with the critical flicker fusion frequency (the point at which the flickering of a screen visually merges together, so that a constant stream of light is perceived), it was discovered that a common house fly perceives a single second at a rate of 6.8:1, compared to the average human, while leatherback turtles experience a second at a ratio of .37:1. The average housefly, able to comprehend and process a more information per second, perceives time at a slower rate than that of an average human. This is why a fly is always able to dodge your hand as you swat at it; to the fly, you are moving in slow motion. The extensive research into these topics has established that across various species, different minds are capable of variable time perception. The possibility that various beings within each species is also capable of varying perceived lengths of time is more or less a given.
— -
Psychoactive drugs such as LSD, DMT, and Psilocybin have been known to drastically affect the time perception of an individual, while under their influence. An average LSD trip lasts about 12 hours. However, for the individual, this span of time can feel to have lasted multiple hours, to multiple days longer (depending on the dosage and the individual). This also gives an explanation as to why microdosing is so popular amongst successful individuals. The enhanced brain efficiency and time perception change results in more, better, work being completed in any given day. Additionally, users of such drugs have reported an ability to see their TVs, projectors, and computer screens flickering, while under the influence of psychedelics. It appears reasonably to believe that the drugs were able to slow down the user’s mind to such a degree that they were able to perceive a previously impossible flicker of their screens. In addition to psychoactive drugs, stimulants and depressants are both known to alter the user’s perception of time. There is no reason to think that the human mind would not be able to produce this variability in time perception of its own accord, especially considering that the chemical in the brain during a psychedelic trip do not change, only the amounts of a few chemicals, including serotonin. Perhaps the levels of the various chemical within the mind are entirely responsible for the variance in cognitive efficiency, and the perceived length of time of an individual.
— -
It appears quite possible that there is a significant relationship between an individual’s IQ and the speed at which they perceive time, relative to the population mean. Higher IQ individuals, who have higher levels of cognitive efficiency, perceive time at a relatively slower rate, whereas lower IQ individuals with lower levels of cognitive efficiency perceive a faster rate of time passage. While there seems to be no immediate social implications surrounding this theory, the consideration of a new way at looking at time, and our perception, will hopefully spark interest in the minds of those curious, leading to further investigation.
—
Sources and Additional Research Information:
Time perception and decision-making — Park, Ji Yong
Effects of stress and relaxation on time perception — Chavez, Bonnie Roberts
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/small-animals-live-in-a-slow-motion-world/
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102169531
https://brainsize.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/the-iqs-of-fortune-500-ceos/
https://www.livescience.com/2117-time-slow-emergencies.html
https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a4569/4216783/
