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Monday, April 04, 2011

we go through life perceiving the present in a series of 3-second windows

I'm liking this hypothesis more and more. Steve.
How long does a hug lasts? The quick answer is about 3 seconds, according to Nagy's study of the post-competition embraces of Olympic athletes. The long answer is more profound. A hug lasts about as much time as many other human actions and neurological processes, which supports a hypothesis that we go through life perceiving the present in a series of 3-second windows...Crosscultural studies dating back to 1911 have shown that people tend to operate in 3-second bursts. Goodbye waves, musical phrases, and infants' bouts of babbling and gesturing all last about 3 seconds.

"We're not talking about something crude and automatic. We're talking about something flexible and highly expressive," Trevarthen says. "It's biological. It's mental. It's spiritual. This is the timing of the human spirit."
Hugs Follow a 3-Second Rule - ScienceNOW