<p>Small animals, such as a fly, snail, or little sea crab, have to cope with physical processes that proceed much faster in relation to their size than they do for bigger animals.</p>
<p>Therefore, I wonder, do small animals perceive events surrounding them as going faster or slower compared to bigger creatures, such as us humans?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-14T19:56:45.940Z
I recommend considering the lifespan and rate of movement for a given animal when trying to answer this question. Cheetahs are large but nevertheless fast. Worms and common snails are small but nevertheless slow. Even in the realm of mammals, animals of similar sizes can vary greatly in their movement and response rates. Compare sloths with house cats.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-14T21:38:06.847Z
@Michael I´m not asking if animals with a difference in lifespan or  response rates and their speed of movements perceive time in a compared to us, slow motion or fast forward rate. I´m asking if little animals (independent of their lifespan and rate of movement), like a snail, perceive time in a different way than us, because small animals have to cope with physical processes that are developing faster.
Deschele Schilder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-14T21:45:43.980Z
@Michael In my question I´m not referring to the lifespan and the rate of movement of animals, but to their size. In general, little animals (compared to us) have to cope with processes that proceed much faster as the processes that surround us. This is also true for a snail or a fly.
Deschele Schilder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-14T21:56:14.123Z
Lifespan has got to have an effect here. A turtle, for example, has a potentially very long lifespan, so its sense of time with respect to mating has got to be slower. For animals who hibernate, there has also got to be a slowed sense of time during much of hibernation season since there is no need to be racing in thoughts when you are going to do practically nothing the whole next week. Even a human's sense of time changes when in a fight-or-flight state. The pressure to think and act depends on the need, which relates to more than just body size.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-14T22:02:31.533Z
Also, consider looking into the human brain's clock mechanisms, as described here: http://news.mit.edu/2015/neuron-firing-patterns-underlie-time-measurement-brain-1008 [and here:] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-brain-has-two-clocks/
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-16T04:58:31.467Z
Think of an imaginary animal who can actually see molecules. In order to cope with these movements isn´t it logical he sees the molecules moving much slower than humans can.
Deschele Schilder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-16T06:59:42.413Z
@Michael In the example of a turtle does that mean he sees everything move faster than we see the same things move?
Deschele Schilder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-16T11:00:41.833Z
I agree that an animal who must act or think upon the movement of individual molecules may by necessity have a very fast thinking pace and corresponding sense of time. Comparing earthworms to humans, however, I am not sure there is much necessity for difference in time perception. I am merely arguing that size may be no more important than lifestyle, lifespan, feeding patterns, mating schedule, body materials, and predators when it comes to sense of time. When these other factors remain similar, indeed size seems to play a relatively linear role.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-16T11:10:24.290Z
On the topic of the turtle, there is a video by National Geographic, available on YouTube, called "Explorer Interrupts Mating Tortoises ...". This video shows a tortoise slowly chasing a human. From the video, it appears the animal has a slower sense of time, particularly considering how long it chases the man. In the animal's eyes, the human is probably hopping about quickly like a rabbit. On the other hand, this particular specimen is pretty large, but no bigger than a lion or horse, both of which being worlds faster.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-16T17:30:58.827Z
There are approx 9.2bil vibrations in a causium atom every second, so one could potentially process and acknowledge almost 9.2bil events if it had the capability to do so. The quicker the processing frequency, the slower everything else will appear relative to them, due to the ability to register each minute interaction.
dwkd
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-19T22:25:36.337Z
How would you design an experiment to conclusively prove the difference in perception?
Seanny123
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-19T22:46:20.703Z
Maybe the fact that if we dream the neural processes go much faster as in the waking state has something to do with it? The processes in my brain go faster but I perceive time as in the waking state. So if I have dreamt for five minutes, maybe an hour seems to have past in my dream. But that´s not an answer to your question. I´m gonna think about it!
Deschele Schilder
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-23T15:31:46.983Z
@Seanny123 David Eagleman is a neuroscientist that delves into time perception in a sense. Check out http://www.eagleman.com under Research and view their experimental questions.
dwkd
<perception><philosophy-of-mind><animal-cognition><time>
Is there a difference in the perception of time in animals of different size?
Deschele Schilder
# Is there a difference in the perception of time in animals of different size?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-14)

Small animals, such as a fly, snail, or little sea crab, have to cope with physical processes that proceed much faster in relation to their size than they do for bigger animals.

Therefore, I wonder, do small animals perceive events surrounding them as going faster or slower compared to bigger creatures, such as us humans?

**Tags:** perception, philosophy-of-mind, animal-cognition, time

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I recommend considering the lifespan and rate of movement for a given animal when trying to answer this question. Cheetahs are large but nevertheless fast. Worms and common snails are small but nevertheless slow. Even in the realm of mammals, animals of similar sizes can vary greatly in their movement and response rates. Compare sloths with house cats.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I´m not asking if animals with a difference in lifespan or  response rates and their speed of movements perceive time in a compared to us, slow motion or fast forward rate. I´m asking if little animals (independent of their lifespan and rate of movement), like a snail, perceive time in a different way than us, because small animals have to cope with physical processes that are developing faster.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 In my question I´m not referring to the lifespan and the rate of movement of animals, but to their size. In general, little animals (compared to us) have to cope with processes that proceed much faster as the processes that surround us. This is also true for a snail or a fly.  
> **username_1**: Lifespan has got to have an effect here. A turtle, for example, has a potentially very long lifespan, so its sense of time with respect to mating has got to be slower. For animals who hibernate, there has also got to be a slowed sense of time during much of hibernation season since there is no need to be racing in thoughts when you are going to do practically nothing the whole next week. Even a human's sense of time changes when in a fight-or-flight state. The pressure to think and act depends on the need, which relates to more than just body size.  
> **username_1**: Also, consider looking into the human brain's clock mechanisms, as described here: http://news.mit.edu/2015/neuron-firing-patterns-underlie-time-measurement-brain-1008 [and here:] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-brain-has-two-clocks/  
> **username_0**: Think of an imaginary animal who can actually see molecules. In order to cope with these movements isn´t it logical he sees the molecules moving much slower than humans can.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 In the example of a turtle does that mean he sees everything move faster than we see the same things move?  
> **username_1**: I agree that an animal who must act or think upon the movement of individual molecules may by necessity have a very fast thinking pace and corresponding sense of time. Comparing earthworms to humans, however, I am not sure there is much necessity for difference in time perception. I am merely arguing that size may be no more important than lifestyle, lifespan, feeding patterns, mating schedule, body materials, and predators when it comes to sense of time. When these other factors remain similar, indeed size seems to play a relatively linear role.  
> **username_1**: On the topic of the turtle, there is a video by National Geographic, available on YouTube, called "Explorer Interrupts Mating Tortoises ...". This video shows a tortoise slowly chasing a human. From the video, it appears the animal has a slower sense of time, particularly considering how long it chases the man. In the animal's eyes, the human is probably hopping about quickly like a rabbit. On the other hand, this particular specimen is pretty large, but no bigger than a lion or horse, both of which being worlds faster.  
> **username_2**: There are approx 9.2bil vibrations in a causium atom every second, so one could potentially process and acknowledge almost 9.2bil events if it had the capability to do so. The quicker the processing frequency, the slower everything else will appear relative to them, due to the ability to register each minute interaction.  
> **username_3**: How would you design an experiment to conclusively prove the difference in perception?  
> **username_0**: Maybe the fact that if we dream the neural processes go much faster as in the waking state has something to do with it? The processes in my brain go faster but I perceive time as in the waking state. So if I have dreamt for five minutes, maybe an hour seems to have past in my dream. But that´s not an answer to your question. I´m gonna think about it!  
> **username_2**: @username_3 David Eagleman is a neuroscientist that delves into time perception in a sense. Check out http://www.eagleman.com under Research and view their experimental questions.  

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