"But how, exactly, does your brain slow down time? Maybe the same way a machine does. When you take a slow-motion video with your phone, it ramps up the rate at which frames are recorded, then plays them back at the standard number of frames per second. To find out if the brain takes the same approach, researchers at Baylor and the University of Texas enlisted volunteers who were willing to subject themselves to a nerve-shattering experience called the Suspended Catch Air Device at the Zero Gravity amusement park in Dallas. The participants were strapped into a harness, then dropped from a 150-foot-high tower. After a 2.5 second free fall, a net stopped their descent.
To ascertain whether adrenaline made their brains speed up, the scientists had invented a wrist-mounted device they called the “perceptual chronometer.” The LED display shows pairs of numbers. If the numbers are set to change more quickly than a person’s mind can perceive, he or she will see only a blur. The scientists set the perceptual chronometer’s flicker rate just beyond what their subjects could perceive when calm. If the intense fear of free fall ramped up the subjects’ perception rate, they should be able to discern the numbers.
As instructed, the subjects looked at the device as they fell. (For the most part — one subject was so terrified she kept her eyes clamped.) They saw — a blur. They were no better able to discern the numbers in free fall than they were when safely on the ground."
To ascertain whether adrenaline made their brains speed up, the scientists had invented a wrist-mounted device they called the “perceptual chronometer.” The LED display shows pairs of numbers. If the numbers are set to change more quickly than a person’s mind can perceive, he or she will see only a blur. The scientists set the perceptual chronometer’s flicker rate just beyond what their subjects could perceive when calm. If the intense fear of free fall ramped up the subjects’ perception rate, they should be able to discern the numbers.
As instructed, the subjects looked at the device as they fell. (For the most part — one subject was so terrified she kept her eyes clamped.) They saw — a blur. They were no better able to discern the numbers in free fall than they were when safely on the ground."