tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/time-perspective-30587/articlesTime perspective – The Conversation2021-09-19T18:47:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1666712021-09-19T18:47:12Z2021-09-19T18:47:12ZThe mysterious optical device Jan van Eyck may have used to paint his masterpieces – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421412/original/file-20210915-20-gsikb7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C8%2C1794%2C1015&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reconstruction of the execution of the Arnolfini portrait. Top: Postures of the painter during the painting process. Bottom: views obtained from the four lenses.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Université de Lorraine</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For centuries, the work of Flemish painter <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Eyck">Jan van Eyck</a> (c. 1390-1441) has perplexed art historians. Van Eyck is famed for his empirical use of perspective, yet many have struggled to find geometrical coherence in his representation of space.</p>
<p>In one of his most celebrated works, the Arnolfini Portrait, which depicts a wealthy, Italian married couple, it is seemingly impossible to find a single vanishing point – the spot furthest from the viewer, at which all of the parallel lines in a painting meet.</p>
<p>In 1905, mathematician Karl Doehlemann demonstrated in a journal article that the parallel lines in the Arnolfini Portrait do not converge toward a single point, but rather toward a circular zone of many vanishing points. The Doehlemann interpretation is still widely accepted today, but a handful of art historians have continued to search for a hidden order behind the painting’s apparent disorder.</p>
<p>Since the early 1990s, researchers have used computer analysis to try to understand the use of perspective in the painting. But the Arnolfini Portrait continues to present difficulties to those who try to analyse it with algorithms.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415870/original/file-20210812-23-an8jmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From left to right: reconstructions proposed by J.G. Kern in 1912, J. Elkins in 1991, and P. H. Jansen and Z. Ruttkay in 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Designed primarily for processing photographs, current algorithms do not take certain important factors into account, namely the fact that there are often fewer parallel lines in a painting than in a photograph. As such, computer vision specialists do not typically use paintings as test subjects.</p>
<h2>Finding van Eyck’s vanishing points</h2>
<p><a href="https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-03287031">Our new research</a> into van Eyck’s work takes into account the inherent uncertainty in the accepted understanding of parallel lines and posits an <em>a contrario</em> reasoning.</p>
<p>A well-known concept in computer vision, <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387726359"><em>a contrario</em> methods</a> rely on a psychological concept known as the Helmholtz principle, which states that “we perceive immediately what cannot be due to chance” or, reinterpreted mathematically, “our algorithm will detect what cannot be due to chance”.</p>
<p>When the Helmholtz principle is applied to a probability map of the vanishing points in the <em>Arnolfini Portrait</em>, a surprisingly ordered structure appears, comprising four main points aligned periodically along a slightly inclined vertical axis.</p>
<p>Similar structures are found in the painter’s other works, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Jerome_in_His_Study_(after_van_Eyck)"><em>Saint Jerome in His Study</em></a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucca_Madonna"><em>Lucca Madonna</em></a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_Triptych"><em>Dresden Triptych</em></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_in_the_Church"><em>Madonna in the Church</em></a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415873/original/file-20210812-17-187wxmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415873/original/file-20210812-17-187wxmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415873/original/file-20210812-17-187wxmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415873/original/file-20210812-17-187wxmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415873/original/file-20210812-17-187wxmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415873/original/file-20210812-17-187wxmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415873/original/file-20210812-17-187wxmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Application of the <em>a contrario</em> method to the <em>Arnolfini Portrait</em>. Left: probability map of vanishing points taking into account an uncertainty at the ends of the extracted edges (visible in red in the right-hand image). Right: application of the <em>a contrario</em> method to this probability map. The extracted edges relate to their corresponding vanishing point, while the color of the link indicates its consistency, from dark blue (0) through to light yellow (1). The edges are grouped into horizontal strips, as marked out here with white lines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Université de Lorraine</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<p>Each of these works may be partitioned into several horizontal strips equal to the number of vanishing points, with each strip containing all the edges associated with one particular point.</p>
<p>When the painting is split into parts, we can see that van Eyck’s perspectives were far from disordered. In fact, they were rigorously exact.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415874/original/file-20210812-21-spw70v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstruction of the vanishing points in <em>Madonna in the Church</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Université de Lorraine</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The case of <em>Madonna in the Church</em> is particularly interesting. Measuring just 14 x 31 cm, this quasi-miniature painting makes use of extremely precise converging lines.</p>
<p>More surprisingly still, the positions of the vanishing points found in the upper strip of the painting are in perfect coherence with the half-decagon geometry of a church choir gallery. This was an unexpected finding, as no one at the time could have known how to place a vanishing point on the horizon line according to its direction in three-dimensional space.</p>
<p>Our argument based on this finding is that van Eyck used an optical device to produce his works.</p>
<h2>A perspective machine</h2>
<p>Almost half a century after van Eyck’s death, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci">Leonardo da Vinci</a> sketched a simplified version of what is called a <a href="https://drawingmachines.org/results.php?tags=Linear%20perspective&order_by=date">“perspective machine”</a>.</p>
<p>Da Vinci’s sketch depicts the artist drawing out the visible objects using a pane of glass, while gazing through an eyepiece.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Leonardo Da Vinci Drawing Device, pictured in his Codex Atlanticus" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421385/original/file-20210915-20-18rd0cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Da Vinci’s ‘perspective machine’ from the Codex Atlanticus, 1478-1519.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Van Eyck’s device would have been more elaborate, with several eyepieces equally spaced out along an inclined axis, just like the vanishing points in the Arnolfini Portrait. Using it, he could have outlined parts of reality strip by strip (eyepiece by eyepiece) with a carbon ink that he then transferred to a primed wood panel before painting it.</p>
<p>The glass pane – <a href="https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-03287031">probably a mirror</a> – could itself be moved within its plane such that the edge of the previously drawn image strip could be joined to the actual image <a href="https://youtu.be/pARXlP82sPI">as seen through the eyepiece</a>.</p>
<p>This crucial step enabled the painter to produce smooth transitions between the strips, which would have been difficult to perceive with the naked eye alone. In the video below, we have illustrated how this might have worked in practice.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pARXlP82sPI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>Painting reality as we perceive it</h2>
<p>Our reconstruction of the painting of the <em>Arnolfini Portrait</em> lets us see what van Eyck would have seen through the eyepieces; for instance, the rise in the ceiling between the view from below and the view from above, which was the one he finally chose (and vice versa for the floor), perhaps to avoid distortion around the painting’s edges.</p>
<p>From an optics viewpoint, amplified perspective distortions on the edges of a painting are not technically incorrect, but we are unaccustomed to them. This is because the visual field of the human eye is more restricted compared to what can be achieved in a short-distance artificial perspective or, perhaps, through a glass pane.</p>
<p>For the <em>Arnolfini Portrait</em>, our analysis suggests that the horizontal distance between the eyepieces placed at each end of the view axis was the same as the distance between the pupils of an adult man.</p>
<p>It is up to individuals to decide whether this was a coincidence, but I would wager that it was not. I imagine that van Eyck would have alternately closed his left and right eyes, observing how this action affected the perception of his own hand and deciding then to equip his device with both viewing options.</p>
<h2>Focusing on the important aspects</h2>
<p>With regard to the <em>Arnolfini Portrait</em>, researchers have underlined the importance of properly representing hands and feet in this era, both in terms of symbolism and aesthetics. Although most of the objects in the painting were drawn only once through the perspective of the eyepiece placed farthest forward, our models suggest the male figure’s feet and raised hand were drawn using other eyepieces.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wM6d9BOj4Ww?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Given that the painting was divided into strips of varying thickness, one might suggest that van Eyck focused his attention on four zones of interest: the ceiling, the male figure’s head and hat, his raised hand, and his lower body. It would seem that he placed particular care on producing the patron’s portrait, perhaps even more so than the surrounding architecture.</p>
<p>Van Eyck’s polyscopic (multi-lensed) device could well have evolved from an earlier monoscopic one, like the device drawn by da Vinci. This may have coincided with the need to produce a full-length portrait of Adam on his masterpiece, the <a href="http://closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be/ghentaltarpiece/#viewer/rep1=1&id1=1">Ghent Altarpiece</a>, following his earlier completion of several head-and-shoulders portraits.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Enda Boorman for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gilles Simon ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Researchers have long tried to unravel the puzzle of Jan van Eyck’s use of perspective in his masterpiece, the Arnolfini Portrait. New research suggests he may have had help from a novel machine.Gilles Simon, Maître de conférences HDR en informatique, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/983462018-06-15T10:44:29Z2018-06-15T10:44:29ZA Father’s Day reminder from science: Your kids aren’t really growing up quickly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223281/original/file-20180614-32339-1a7wlc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">They only seem to grow up so fast.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">VCoscaron/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I am one of those men for whom it is impossible to find Father’s Day gifts. </p>
<p>I don’t wear ties. My socks are all the same, in the interest of efficiency. I enjoy cooking, which would seem to open up some possibilities. But I have an annoying habit of buying useful gadgets as I need them, leaving my relatives to purchase paper bags specially designed for storing cheese, say, or devices that carve vegetables into the shape of noodles.</p>
<p>With sympathy for my family, the truth is that my favorite Father’s Day gift this year has been the gift of time. Or more precisely, a new understanding of how my perception of time is warped by the brain. I am a <a href="http://bkpayne.web.unc.edu">social psychologist</a> who studies how people’s minds shape their subjective experiences. And there are few experiences more subjective than the experience of time.</p>
<h2>A childhood whooshing by</h2>
<p>Surely every parent has suffered the same pains I am feeling as my daughter turns 9. </p>
<p>In her first year, the sleepless nights were eternities passed under the glowing blue rectangles of an LCD clock. The days stretched out too, as I wished for the time when she could be entertained on her own by a toy or a cartoon, for even a few minutes. It felt like climbing uphill in anticipation of that time when we could coast. </p>
<p>Now, as she stretches from the roundness of a baby toward the long gazelle lines of a pre-teen, I feel that we have somehow accelerated too fast. Somewhere, we crested the top, but there was no coasting, only a whooshing that I can’t slow down. </p>
<p>Is this feeling of time whistling past inevitable? Scientists have uncovered <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/felt-time">startling insights</a> about how the brain registers the passage of time. Understanding them won’t make that whooshing feeling go away, exactly, but it can make it less painful.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223282/original/file-20180614-32327-ykgrvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223282/original/file-20180614-32327-ykgrvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223282/original/file-20180614-32327-ykgrvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223282/original/file-20180614-32327-ykgrvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223282/original/file-20180614-32327-ykgrvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223282/original/file-20180614-32327-ykgrvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223282/original/file-20180614-32327-ykgrvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time flies when your brain perceives it to.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Halfpoint/shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The passage of time</h2>
<p>This feeling of time speeding up or slowing down happens in a lot of areas of life. </p>
<p>We generally feel that our moments become more fleeting as we get older. Remember how long summer vacation seemed as a kid? And, ironically, as we get older larger chunks of time like decades <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0961463X13478052">seem</a> to fly faster than smaller chunks like days or minutes. </p>
<p>Unpublished research by Heidi Vuletich in my lab finds that scarce resources make the future feel further away, which helps explain why poor children make more <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/862">impatient</a> decisions than middle-class kids. Time also seems to slow down during an emotionally intense event, whether it’s a car crash or a sleepless night. </p>
<p>Does time really go into slow motion during a car crash? Does it really speed up as we age? What these phenomena have in common is that they are all experienced retrospectively or prospectively, not in real time. There is no way to re-experience the car crash without traveling through the doorway of memory. So when we experience time speeding up or slowing down, is that happening in real time? Or is it a memory illusion?</p>
<p>Neuroscientist David Eagleman and his colleagues ran an ingenious <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001295">experiment</a> to find out. They used a sky-diving tower at an amusement park in Dallas. Subjects ascended in an elevator to the top of a 100-foot tower and then let themselves free fall into a net at the bottom. </p>
<p>Strapped to their wrists was a chronometer – a device for measuring time perception. It was a screen on which numbers flickered back and forth very quickly – so quickly that it’s difficult to identify the numbers. The point of the chronometer is that if time really slows down for the brain when falling, then a person in free fall should be able to accurately perceive more flickering numbers per second, relative to when they’re safe on the ground. </p>
<p>So what happened? When asked afterward to estimate how long they were falling, subjects overestimated the time they were in the air by more than a third. In their memories, time had indeed slowed down. But, according to the numbers participants reported seeing on the chronometer, time passed at the same ordinary rate as it did before the free fall.</p>
<p>This is why even though we seem to experience a car crash in slow motion, the extra time does not allow us any extra ability to steer out of the way. That’s because the slow motion is in our memories, not in the moment. Think of what this means for our experiences of time slowing down and speeding up: That whooshing feeling is not in our present, but only in our memories of it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223283/original/file-20180614-32307-9lu7xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223283/original/file-20180614-32307-9lu7xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223283/original/file-20180614-32307-9lu7xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223283/original/file-20180614-32307-9lu7xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223283/original/file-20180614-32307-9lu7xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223283/original/file-20180614-32307-9lu7xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223283/original/file-20180614-32307-9lu7xc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even a child’s first steps can become a memory distorted by time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dragon Images/shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The present is now</h2>
<p>So are we doomed to feel that our children’s youth is speeding away? </p>
<p>It is likely to feel that way whenever we reminisce about the past. The more important lesson, though, is not about the past but the present. Now that I’m free falling toward her adolescence, it’s important to understand that time is not really whistling away from me. Each moment lasts the same as it did when she was a baby. Each moment holds as much joy and as much pain now as it will tomorrow. </p>
<p>And so, this insight is a call to let the remembered past and the fretted future go and to return attention relentlessly to the present. Someday I will look back, my head swimming, and remember today like those long, lazy summer days. But right now, a moment is just a moment. Right now she still loves to lay beside me and hear me read to her. Right now I am the big one and the strong one who can scoop her up in one arm when she needs it. </p>
<p>Right now, I am not “my dad,” I am daddy. What more could a father want?</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Payne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Time often seems to fly by when you’re a parent. A social psychologist explains why it actually – and fortunately – does not.Keith Payne, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/867392017-11-02T02:53:27Z2017-11-02T02:53:27ZIs daylight saving time worth the trouble? Research says no<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192878/original/file-20171101-19853-186y1x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Falling back or staying put?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fall-back-time-daylight-savings-end-487729594?src=WEyjA0H5VMiTN4uqWaJT3Q-1-1">Romolo Tavani/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today the sun is shining during my commute home from work. But this weekend, public service announcements will remind us to “fall back,” ending daylight saving time by setting our clocks an hour earlier on Sunday, Nov. 5. On Nov. 6, many of us will commute home in the dark. </p>
<p>This semiannual ritual shifts our rhythms and temporarily makes us groggy at times when we normally feel alert. Moreover, many Americans are confused about why we spring forward in March and fall back in November, and whether it is worth the trouble. </p>
<p>The practice of resetting clocks is not designed for farmers, whose plows follow the sun regardless of what time clocks say it is. And it does not create extra daylight – it simply shifts when the sun rises and sets relative to society’s regular schedule and routines. </p>
<p>The key question is how people respond to this enforced shift. Most people have to be at work at a certain time – say, 8:30 a.m. – and if that time comes an hour earlier, they simply get up an hour earlier. The effect on society is another question. Here, the research shows that daylight saving time is more burden than boon.</p>
<h2>No energy savings</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html">Benjamin Franklin</a> was one of the first thinkers to endorse the idea of making better use of daylight. Although he lived well before the invention of light bulbs, Franklin observed that people who slept past sunrise wasted more candles later in the evening. He also whimsically suggested the first policy fixes to encourage energy conservation: firing cannons at dawn as public alarm clocks, and fining homeowners who put up window shutters. </p>
<p>To this day, our laws <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109hr6enr/pdf/BILLS-109hr6enr.pdf">equate</a> daylight saving with energy conservation. However, recent research suggests that it actually increases energy use. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poster celebrating enactment of daylight saving time during World War I, 1917.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victory-Cigar-Congress-Passes-DST.jpeg#/media/File:Victory-Cigar-Congress-Passes-DST.png">Library of Congress/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is what I found in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00131">study</a> co-authored with Yale economist <a href="http://environment.yale.edu/profile/kotchen/">Matthew Kotchen</a>. We used a policy change in Indiana to estimate daylight saving time’s effects on electricity consumption. Prior to 2006, most Indiana counties did not observe it. By comparing households’ electricity demand before and after daylight saving time was adopted, month by month, we showed that it had actually increased residential electricity demand in Indiana by 1 to 4 percent annually. </p>
<p>The largest effects occurred in the summer – when shifting clocks forward aligns our lives with the hottest part of the day, so that people tend to use more air conditioning – and late fall, when we wake up in a cold dark house and use more heating, with no reduction in lighting needs. </p>
<p>Other studies corroborate these findings. Research <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2008.02.003">in Australia</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2014.03.012">in the United States</a> shows that daylight saving time does not decrease total energy use. However, it does smooth out peaks and valleys in energy demand throughout the day, as people at home use more electricity in the morning and less during the afternoon. Though people still use more electricity, shifting the timing reduces average costs to deliver energy because not everyone demands it during typical peak usage periods. </p>
<h2>Other outcomes are mixed</h2>
<p>Daylight saving time proponents also argue that changing times provides more hours for afternoon recreation and reduces crime rates. The best <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vin1BgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=recreation&ots=MKkbQFbYZr&sig=8QgerwLkYeVizybGFRib9DMmlDc#v=onepage&q=recreation&f=false">time for recreation</a> is a matter of preference. However, there is better evidence on crime rates: Fewer muggings and sexual assaults occur during daylight saving time months because <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00547">fewer potential victims are out after dark</a>. </p>
<p>Overall, net benefits from these three durational effects of crime, recreation and energy use – that is, impacts that last for the duration of the time change – are murky. </p>
<p>Other consequences of daylight saving time are ephemeral. I think of them as bookend effects, since they occur when we change our clocks. </p>
<p>When we “spring forward” in March we lose an hour, which comes disproportionately from resting hours rather than wakeful time. Therefore, many problems associated with springing forward <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199604043341416">stem from sleep deprivation</a>. With less rest, people make more mistakes, which appear to cause <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20140100">more traffic accidents</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015320">workplace injuries</a>, lower workplace productivity due to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0027557">cyberloafing</a> and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/117321?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">poorer stock market trading</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MO0MUps-bNM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Even when we gain that hour back in the fall, we must readjust our routines over several days because the sun and our alarm clocks feel out of synchronization, much like jet lag. Some impacts are serious: During bookend weeks, children in higher latitudes go to school in the dark, which increases the risk of pedestrian casualties. Dark commutes are so problematic for pedestrians that New York City is <a href="http://nypdnews.com/2017/10/vision-zero-de-blasio-administration-announces-return-dusk-darkness-safety-campaign/">repeating the “Dusk and Darkness” safety campaign</a> that it launched in 2016. And heart attacks <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc0807104">increase</a> after the spring time shift – it is thought because of lack of sleep – but decrease to a lesser extent after the fall shift. Collectively, these bookend effects represent net costs and strong arguments against retaining daylight saving time. </p>
<h2>Pick your own time zone?</h2>
<p>Spurred by many of these arguments, <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/blog/2017/03/13/to-save-daylight-or-not-to-save-daylight-that-is-the-timely-question.aspx">at least 16 states</a> have considered changes to daylight saving time this year. Some bills would end daylight saving time, while others would make it permanent. For example, Massachusetts is studying whether to <a href="http://www.wcvb.com/article/fall-back-no-more-state-time-zone-commission-votes-wednesday/13126759">move in coordination with other New England states</a> to Atlantic Time, joining Canada’s Maritime provinces one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. If they shift, travelers flying from Los Angeles to Boston would cross five time zones.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Countries observing daylight saving time (blue in Northern Hemisphere, orange in Southern Hemisphere). Light gray countries have abandoned DST; dark gray nations have never practiced it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DST_Countries_Map.png">TimeZonesBoy/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some states have good reason for diverging from the norm. Notably, Hawaii does not practice daylight saving time because it is much closer to the equator than the rest of the nation, so its daylight hours barely change throughout the year. Arizona is the sole contiguous state that abstains from daylight saving time, citing its extreme summer temperatures. Although this disparity causes confusion for western travelers, the state’s residents have not changed clocks’ times for over 40 years. </p>
<p>In my research I have found that everyone has strong opinions about daylight saving time. Many people welcome the shift in March as a signal of spring. Others like the coordinated availability of daylight after work. Dissenters, including farmers, curse their loss of quiet morning hours. </p>
<p>When the evidence about costs and benefits is mixed but we need to make coordinated choices, how should we make decisions? The strongest arguments, with the exception of energy costs, support not only doing away with the switches but keeping the nation <a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wflr43&div=7&id=&page=">on daylight saving time year-round</a>. This provides the benefits of after- work sun without the schedule disruptions. Yet humans adapt. If we abandon the twice-yearly switch, we may eventually slide back into old routines and habits of sleeping in during daylight. Daylight saving time is the coordinated alarm to wake us up a bit earlier in the summer and get us out of work with more sunshine.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-daylight-saving-time-isnt-worth-the-trouble-it-causes-66110">article</a> originally published on Nov. 2, 2016.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Grant received funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Advocates say daylight saving time saves energy and wins wars. But studies show that injuries and illnesses rise when the clocks change. Some states may end the practice; others could make it permanent.Laura Grant, Assistant Professor of Economics, Claremont McKenna CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/661102016-11-03T00:16:44Z2016-11-03T00:16:44ZHere’s why daylight saving time isn’t worth the trouble it causes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144080/original/image-20161101-15814-dcphcx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spring forward, fall back ... why?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-48769720/stock-photo-daylight-saving-time-concept.html?src=Ea-P5gTupugXqRHthWq7oA-1-60">Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today the sun is shining during my commute home from work. But this weekend, public service announcements will remind us to “fall back,” ending daylight saving time (DST) by setting our clocks an hour earlier on Sunday, Nov. 6. On Nov. 7, many of us will commute home in the dark. </p>
<p>This semiannual ritual shifts our rhythms and temporarily makes us groggy at times when we normally feel alert. Moreover, many Americans are confused about why we spring forward to DST in March and fall back in November, and whether it is worth the trouble. </p>
<p>The practice of resetting clocks is not designed for farmers, whose plows follow the sun regardless of what time clocks say it is. Yet many people continue to believe that farmers benefit, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-effort-to-eliminate-daylight-savings-1472001408-htmlstory.html">including lawmakers</a> during recent debates over changing California DST laws. Massachusetts is also <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/08/11/time-for-mass-move-new-time-zone/64Q51rTWormBPTH7Ggds2O/story.html">studying whether to abandon DST</a>. </p>
<p>Changing our clocks does not create extra daylight. DST simply shifts when the sun rises and sets relative to our society’s regular schedule and routines. The key question, then, is how people respond to this enforced shift in natural lighting. Most people have to be at work at a certain time – say, 8:30 a.m. – and if that time comes an hour earlier, they simply get up an hour earlier. The effect on society is another question, and there, the research shows DST is more burden than boon.</p>
<h2>No energy savings</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin3.html">Benjamin Franklin</a> was one of the first thinkers to endorse the idea of making better use of daylight. Although he lived well before the invention of light bulbs, Franklin observed that people who slept past sunrise wasted more candles later in the evening. He also whimsically suggested the first policy fixes to encourage energy conservation: firing cannons at dawn as public alarm clocks and fining homeowners who put up window shutters. </p>
<p>To this day, our laws <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109hr6enr/pdf/BILLS-109hr6enr.pdf">equate</a> daylight saving with energy conservation. However, recent research suggests that DST actually increases energy use. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144083/original/image-20161101-8691-1mlssf1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poster celebrating enactment of daylight saving time during World War I, 1917 (click to zoom).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victory-Cigar-Congress-Passes-DST.jpeg#/media/File:Victory-Cigar-Congress-Passes-DST.png">Library of Congress/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is what I found in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00131">study</a> coauthored with Yale economist <a href="http://environment.yale.edu/profile/kotchen/">Matthew Kotchen</a>. We used a policy change in Indiana to estimate DST effects on electricity consumption. Prior to 2007, most Indiana counties did not observe DST. By comparing households’ electricity demand before and after DST was adopted, month by month, we showed that DST had actually increased residential electricity demand in Indiana by 1 to 4 percent annually. </p>
<p>The largest effects occurred in the summer, when DST aligns our lives with the hottest part of the day, so people tend to use more air conditioning, and late fall, when we wake up in the dark and use more heating with no reduction in lighting needs. </p>
<p>Other studies corroborate these findings. Research <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2008.02.003">in Australia</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2014.03.012">in the United States</a> shows that DST does not decrease total energy use. However, it does smooth out peaks and valleys in energy demand throughout the day, as people at home use more electricity in the morning and less during the afternoon. Though people still use more electricity, shifting the timing reduces the average costs to deliver energy because not everyone demands it during typical peak usage periods. </p>
<h2>Other outcomes are mixed</h2>
<p>DST proponents also argue that changing times provides more hours for afternoon recreation and reduces crime rates. But <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vin1BgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=recreation&ots=MKkbQFbYZr&sig=8QgerwLkYeVizybGFRib9DMmlDc#v=onepage&q=recreation&f=false">time for recreation</a> is a matter of preference. There is better evidence on crime rates: Fewer muggings and sexual assaults occur during DST months because <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00547">fewer potential victims are out after dark</a>. </p>
<p>So overall, the net benefits from these three durational effects of crime, recreation and energy use – that is, impacts that last for the duration of the time change – are murky. </p>
<p>Other consequences of DST are ephemeral. I think of them as bookend effects, since they occur at the beginning and end of DST. </p>
<p>When we “spring forward” in March we lose an hour, which comes disproportionately from resting hours rather than wakeful time. Therefore, many problems associated with springing forward <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199604043341416">stem from sleep deprivation</a>. With less rest people make more mistakes, which appear to cause <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20140100">more traffic accidents</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015320">workplace injuries</a>, lower workplace productivity due to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0027557">cyberloafing</a> and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/117321?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">poorer stock market trading</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MO0MUps-bNM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Even when we gain that hour back in the fall, we must readjust our routines over several days because the sun and our alarm clocks feel out of synchronization. Some impacts are serious: During bookend weeks, children in higher latitudes go to school in the dark, which increases the risk of pedestrian casualties. Dark commutes are so problematic for pedestrians that New York City is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/nyregion/new-york-commute-dusk-and-darkness-safety-campaign.html?_r=0">spending US$1.5 million on a related safety campaign</a>. And heart attacks <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc0807104">increase</a> after the spring time shift – it is thought because of lack of sleep – but decrease to a lesser extent after the fall shift. Collectively, these bookend effects represent net costs and strong arguments against retaining DST. </p>
<h2>Pick your own time zone?</h2>
<p>Spurred by many of these arguments, several states are considering unilaterally discontinuing DST. The California State Legislature <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB385">considered a bill this term</a> that would have asked voters to decide whether or not to remain on Pacific Standard Time year-round (the measure was passed by the State Assembly but rejected by the Senate). </p>
<p>On the East Coast, Massachusetts has <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H4569/">commissioned research</a> on the impacts of dropping DST and joining Canada’s Maritime provinces on Atlantic Time, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. If this occurred, Massachusetts would be an hour ahead of all of its neighboring states during winter months, and travelers flying from Los Angeles to Boston would cross five time zones.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/144085/original/image-20161101-6277-2mo970.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Countries observing daylight saving time (blue in Northern Hemisphere, orange in Southern Hemisphere). Light gray countries have abandoned DST; dark gray nations have never practiced it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DST_Countries_Map.png">TimeZonesBoy/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These proposals ignore a fundamental fact: Daylight saving time relies on coordination. If one state changes its clocks a week early, neighboring states will be out of sync. </p>
<p>Some states have good reason for diverging from the norm. Notably, Hawaii does not practice DST because it is much closer to the equator than the rest of the nation, so its daylight hours barely change throughout the year. Arizona is the sole contiguous state that abstains from DST, citing its extreme summer temperatures. Although this disparity causes confusion for western travelers, the state’s residents have not changed clocks’ times for over 40 years. </p>
<p>In my research on DST I have found that everyone has strong opinions about it. Many people welcome the shift to DST as a signal of spring. Others like the coordinated availability of daylight after work. Dissenters, including farmers, curse their loss of quiet morning hours. </p>
<p>When the evidence about costs and benefits is mixed but we need to make coordinated choices, how should we make DST decisions? When the California State Senate opted to stick with DST, one legislator <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-effort-to-eliminate-daylight-savings-1472001408-htmlstory.html">stated</a>, “I like daylight savings. I just like it.” But politicians’ whims are not a good basis for policy choices. </p>
<p>The strongest arguments support not only doing away with the switches but keeping the nation <a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wflr43&div=7&id=&page=">on daylight saving time year-round</a>. Yet humans adapt. If we abandon the twice-yearly switch, we may eventually slide back into old routines and habits of sleeping in during daylight. Daylight saving time is the coordinated alarm to wake us up a bit earlier in the summer and get us out of work with more sunshine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Grant received funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Daylight saving time advocates say it conserves energy and wins wars. But studies show that injuries and illnesses rise when we switch the clocks. One solution: staying on DST year-round.Laura Grant, Assistant Professor of Economics, Claremont McKenna CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/615522016-08-24T02:06:11Z2016-08-24T02:06:11ZGetting serious about funny: Psychologists see humor as a character strength<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135250/original/image-20160824-30216-zdyfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't laugh at the psychological study of humor.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pic-398241004.html">Laughing image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humor is observed <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-humor-code/201109/the-importance-humor-research">in all cultures and at all ages</a>. But only in recent decades has experimental psychology respected it as an essential, fundamental human behavior.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/5472">Historically</a>, psychologists <a href="http://www.springer.com/us/book/9780306464072">framed humor negatively</a>, suggesting it demonstrated superiority, vulgarity, Freudian id conflict or a defense mechanism to hide one’s true feelings. In this view, an individual used humor to demean or disparage others, or to inflate one’s own self-worth. As such, it was treated as an undesirable behavior to be avoided. And psychologists tended to ignore it as worthy of study.</p>
<p>But research on humor has come into the sunlight of late, with humor now viewed as a character strength. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410">Positive psychology</a>, a field that examines what people do well, notes that humor can be used to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000063">make others feel good</a>, to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1962">gain intimacy</a> or to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2014.884519">help buffer stress</a>. Along with gratitude, hope and spirituality, a sense of humor belongs to the <a href="http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/01/05/measuring-your-character-strengths/">set of strengths</a> positive psychologists call <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.592508">transcendence</a>; together they help us forge connections to the world and provide meaning to life. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760701228938">Appreciation of humor correlates with other strengths</a>, too, such as <a href="http://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410">wisdom and love of learning</a>. And humor activities or exercises <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.577087">result in increased feelings of emotional well-being and optimism</a>. </p>
<p>For all these reasons, humor is now welcomed into mainstream experimental psychology as a desirable behavior or skill researchers want to understand. How do we comprehend, appreciate and produce humor?</p>
<h2>What it takes to get a joke</h2>
<p>Understanding and creating humor require a sequence of mental operations. Cognitive psychologists favor a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1515/humr.1990.3.1.53">three-stage theory of humor</a>. To be in on the joke you need to be able to:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Mentally represent the set up of the joke.</p></li>
<li><p>Detect an incongruity in its multiple interpretations.</p></li>
<li><p>Resolve the incongruity by inhibiting the literal, nonfunny interpretations and appreciating the meaning of the funny one.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>An individual’s knowledge is organized in mental memory structures called schemas. When we see or think of something, it activates the relevant schema; Our body of knowledge on that particular topic immediately comes to mind.</p>
<p>For example, when we see <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5iwQA4JJdUs/S_hBozdXqZI/AAAAAAAABco/swEcaydKG4s/s1600/cows.png">cows in a Far Side cartoon</a>, we activate our bovine schema (stage 1). But when we notice the cows are inside the car while human beings are in the pasture grazing, there are now two mental representations in our conscious mind: what our preexisting schema mentally represented about cows and what we imagined from the cartoon (stage 2). By inhibiting the real-world representation (stage 3), we find the idea of cows driving through a countryside of grazing people funny. “I know about cows” becomes “wait, cows should be the ones in the field, not people” becomes an appreciation of the humor in an implausible situation.</p>
<p>Funny is the subjective experience that comes from the resolution of at least two incongruous schemas. In verbal jokes, the second schema is often activated at the end, in a punchline. </p>
<h2>That’s not funny</h2>
<p>There are at least two reasons that we sometimes don’t get the joke. First, the punchline must create a different mental representation that conflicts with the one set up by the joke; timing and laugh tracks help signal the listener that a different representation of the punchline is possible. Second, you must be able to inhibit the initial mental representation.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135213/original/image-20160823-30238-fk3rgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You need some new material.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hopkinsarchives/6049073817">Special Collections at Johns Hopkins University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When jokes perpetuate a stereotype that we find offensive (as in ethnic, racist or sexist jokes), we may refuse to inhibit the offensive representation. Violence in cartoons is another example; In Roadrunner cartoons, when an anvil hits the coyote, animal lovers may be unable to inhibit the animal cruelty meaning instead of focusing on the funny meaning of yet another inevitable failure.</p>
<p>This incongruity model can explain <a href="http://doi.org/10.1159/000351005">why older adults do not comprehend jokes</a> as frequently as younger adults. Due to declines tied to the aging process, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S135561770396005X">older adults may not have the cognitive resources</a> needed to create multiple representations, to simultaneously hold multiple ones in order to detect the incongruity, or to inhibit the first one that was activated. Getting the joke relies on working memory capacity and control functions. However, when older adults succeed in their efforts to do these things, they typically show greater appreciation of the joke than younger adults do and <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-009-0090-0">report greater life satisfaction than those who don’t see the humor</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135212/original/image-20160823-30228-1fjqw3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Advancing age can set the stage for an appreciation of humor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yooperann/5837772027">Ann Fisher</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There may be other aspects to humor, though, where older adults hold the advantage. <a href="http://doi.org/10.2190/N76X-9E3V-P1FN-H8D8">Wisdom</a> is a form of reasoning that increases with age and is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410">correlated with subjective well-being</a>. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1515/HUMR.2009.023">Humor is linked with wisdom</a> – a wise person knows how to use humor or when to laugh at oneself.</p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000062">intuition is a form of decision-making</a> that may develop with the expertise and experience that come with aging. Like humor, intuition is enjoying a bit of a renaissance within psychology research now that it’s been reframed as <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.07.004">a major form of reasoning</a>. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2015-0070">Intuition aids humor</a> in schema formation and incongruity resolution, and we perceive and appreciate humor more through speedy first impressions rather than logical analysis.</p>
<h2>Traveling through time</h2>
<p>It’s a uniquely human ability to parse time, to reflect on our past, present and future, and to imagine details in these mental representations. As with humor, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1271">time perspective</a> is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9656-2">fundamental to human experience</a>. Our ability to enjoy humor is enmeshed with this mental capacity for time travel and subjective well-being. </p>
<p>People <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2011.03.006">vary greatly in the ability</a> to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2010.537279">detail their mental representations</a> of the past, present and future. For example, some people may have what psychologists call a negative past perspective – frequently thinking about bygone mistakes that don’t have anything to do with the present environment, even reliving them in vivid detail despite the present or future being positive.</p>
<p>Time perspective is <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X07086304">related to feelings of well-being</a>. People report a greater sense of well-being depending on the quality of the details of their past or present recollections. When study participants focused on “how” details, which tend to elicit vivid details, they were more satisfied with life than when they focused on “why,” which tend to elicit abstract ideas. For example, when remembering a failed relationship, those focusing on events that led to the breakup were more satisfied than those dwelling on abstract causal explanations concerning love and intimacy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135251/original/image-20160824-30259-gticif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The way you think about the past is tied up with your sense of humor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pic-218222707.html">Pensive image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One study found that people who <a href="http://doi.org/10.2466/16.10.PR0.113x17z9">use humor in positive ways held positive past time perspectives</a>, and those using self-defeating humor held negative past time perspectives. This kind of study contributes to our understanding of how we think about and interpret social interactions. Such research also suggests that attempts to use humor in a positive way may improve the emotional tone of details in our thoughts and thereby our moods. <a href="http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00456">Clinical psychologists are using humor as a treatment</a> to increase subjective well-being.</p>
<p>In ongoing recent work, my students and I analyzed college students’ scores on a few common scales that psychologists use to assess humor, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-015-9382-2">time perspective</a> and the <a href="http://doi.org/10.2753/JOA0091-3367360104">need for humor</a> – a measure of how an individual produces or seeks humor in their daily lives. Our preliminary results suggest those high in humor character strength tend to concentrate on the positive aspects of their past, present and future. Those who seek humor in their lives appear in our study sample also to focus on the pleasant aspects of their current lives.</p>
<p>Though our investigation is still in the early phase, our data support a connection between the cognitive processes needed to mentally time-travel and to appreciate humor. Further research on time perspectives may help explain individual differences in detecting and resolving incongruities that result in funny feelings.</p>
<h2>Learning to respect laughter</h2>
<p>Experimental psychologists are rewriting the book on humor as we learn its value in our daily lives and its relationship to other important mental processes and character strengths. As the joke goes, how many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, but it has to want to change.</p>
<p>Studying humor allows us to investigate theoretical processes involved in memory, reasoning, time perspective, wisdom, intuition and subjective well-being. And it’s a behavior of interest in and of itself as we work to describe, explain, control and predict humor across age, genders and cultures. </p>
<p>Whereas we may not agree on what’s funny and what isn’t, there’s more consensus than ever among experimental psychologists that humor is serious and relevant to the science of behavior. And that’s no laughing matter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet M. Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>No longer dismissed as an undesirable negative trait to be avoided, humor is having a heyday among experimental psychologists.Janet M. Gibson, Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Grinnell CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.