How the pandemic upended our perception of time

A new paper by cognitive neuroscientist Nina Rouhani has uncovered that isolating to curb the spread of COVID-19 significantly impacted our ability to accurately recall events — findings that are consistent with memory lapses experienced by prison inmates.

Though almost everyone agrees that time has been passing very strangely since the pandemic took hold in early 2020, discussing how some days feel eternal while moths appear to be flying by has grown tired.

Until now, that is, because a new paper by cognitive neuroscientist Nina Rouhani has given us a valid reason to finally confront how bizarre it can be to reflect on the last few years.

As her findings reveal, isolating to curb the spread of COVID-19 did a lot more than bolster TikTok’s popularity, accelerate existing trends in remote work, and hinder our social skills.

Examining the influence of quarantine on our perception of time, Rouhani uncovered that it has significantly impacted our ability to accurately recall events, in a way that’s consistent with memory lapses experienced by prison inmates.