Research
Three questions for time researcher Dr. Isabell Winkler on time change, time perception and whether she prefers permanent summer or winter time
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dr Isabell Winkler from Chemnitz University of Technology examines the subjective perception of time. Photo and assembly: Lili Hofmann
dr Isabell Winkler is a research associate at the Professorship of Research Methods and Evaluation in Psychology (Head: Prof. Dr. Peter Sedlmeier) at Chemnitz University of Technology and researches this subjective sense of time from people. In a short interview, she talks about the upcoming time change, the effect of individual time perception and whether she prefers permanent summer or winter time.
Ms. Winkler, you research the perception of time and temporal processes. Do we humans have an innate sense of time?
Even animals and small children can perceive differences in the duration of stimuli. Therefore, one can assume that the perception of time is innate. However, what a long or short duration means has to be learned – like counting or reading the clock.
Daylight saving time begins on March 26 and clocks are put forward one hour on the night from Saturday to Sunday. What does the time change do to our perception of time?
In fact, the time change doesn’t have that much of an impact on our perception of time. In a study that I conducted together with Mara Yasin and 100 participants, we also asked how stressful the time change was perceived. So we saw that the load is not that strong. The subjects most often gave the reason for the mild stress that their circadian rhythm was disturbed. Our internal clock, the so-called circadian rhythm, is controlled by daylight. If the daylight changes, as with the time change, the circadian rhythm adapts. An hour every six months doesn’t make much of a difference. For example, we can deal relatively well with a time difference of several hours on an intercontinental flight. In contrast to this, however, is the experience of shift work, which can lead to considerable physical and mental impairments.
What is your personal relationship to the time change?
Looking at our current study, I belong to the larger group of people who prefer permanent daylight saving time. Even in winter I think it’s good to have an hour more daylight in the afternoon and I’m more willing to give up the hour in the morning. The time change itself doesn’t bother me much. Incidentally, the majority of our respondents agree.
Multimedia:
In the TU Chemnitz podcast series “TUCscicast” there is an episode (season 1, episode 1) with Dr. Isabell Winkler and other background information on her research.
Matthias Fejes
25.03.2023