Why time warps: Mysteries of time perception explored

The public lecture forms part of the BPS's public engagement scheme. In it, Claudia, presenter of BBC Radio 4's All in the Mind, will discuss conundrums such as why lives appear to speed up as we get older, how our minds keep time and why at least a fifth of the population visualise time spread out before them.

Author of "Time Warped", published on 3 May 2012 by Canongate Books Ltd, Claudia says: "The brain creates its own time, making it remarkably easy to trick the brain's clock. Mind time is different from clock time. It is the inner time we experience and it can pass fast or slowly depending on whether we are waiting for a train, working hard or free falling from a plane. Our relationship with time is not straightforward."

A new theory called 'Holiday Paradox' will be introduced at the lecture. It explains why holidays appear to go fast at the time, but when you look back you feel like you were away for ages. Claudia says: "We judge time prospectively and retrospectively and these two perspectives on time can explain many of its mysteries."

Mental time travel and its peculiarities will also be revealed. Mind bogglers such as why we remember more events from our late teens and early twenties than from any other time of life, and whether our ability to imagine the future explains the imperfection of our memories.