Introduction

The purpose of our experiment was to determine whether the perception of time

would be different if you are doing an activity. Our group became interested in this topic

because of the common saying, time flies when you are having fun. I have been

interested in this topic for a while because I have done activities and then realized that

it had been an hour since I started but it felt like it had been 30 minutes. Perception is

understood as “the process of interpreting sensory information.” (Bruss, F.,

Ruschendorf, L , 2) This fact was crucial to our research of time perception because it

lead to one question drove our research, What would happen to your perception if

sensory information was minimized?

Material and Method

Participants

A random sample of students was taken from four study hall classes during

seventh and eighth period, an English 11 class at Clark hall during block four A, and a

random sample of kids from a youth group at Resurrection Church. Out of that random

sample 86 people choose to participate in our experiment. The class grades ranged from

freshman to seniors and the girl to boy ratio was split almost 50-50.

Materials

Participants from the study hall classes were taken to classroom and the

participants who were part of the experimental group were given a list of five riddles.

The riddles ranged in difficulty from easier ones to more complicated ones. Phones with

stopwatches were used to keep track of time

Procedure

To begin the experiment, the clock in the classroom that was used was covered

up. The random sample of students was then randomly assigned into the experimental

and control group. The students then were lead to the room in which the experiment

was taking place and asked to put their cell phones or any other technology away and

not to look at them at any time during the experiment. When all the students arrived,

they were informed that they could leave at any time but none left. The participants

where then briefly briefed on what we were doing. For the experimental group, we gave

out the riddles and then told the group that we were going to solve them in an in class

discussion. For the control group, we told the group that we are going to observe them.

Each group was in the room for five minutes and thirty seven seconds and at the end of

the time we gave them a survey to fill out that asked them how long they thought they

were in the classroom. We then debriefed them on the experiment and let them go

back to class.

Ethical Consideration

We accounted for ethical consideration by tell the participants that they could

leave whenever they wanted to during the experiment. We didn’t take students names

so that we kept the participants confidential. The participants where debriefed at the

conclusion of the experiment.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion Statement and Explanation