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Whether you face your past or walk into your future, time and space are complex Whether you face your past or walk into your future, time and space are complex
(1 day later)
Time is a deeply confusing thing for us humans to think about – and the ways in which we talk about it don’t always help.Time is a deeply confusing thing for us humans to think about – and the ways in which we talk about it don’t always help.
For instance, here’s a heads-up to my editors: if you commission an article from me, then try to “move the deadline forward”, don’t expect me to send it to you sooner. To me – and, apparently, only to a minority of others – moving something “forward” in time obviously means that you want to push the deadline further ahead, off into the future. Moving a deadline or meeting “back” seems even more obviously to mean bringing it closer to the present time – in the same way that, when you give back tome the book that I lent you, you’ll be bringing it closer to me in space. But to the majority, moving something forward means moving it closer to the present; moving it back means shifting it further away. For instance, here’s a heads-up to my editors: if you commission an article from me, then try to “move the deadline forward”, don’t expect me to send it to you sooner. To me – and, apparently, only to a minority of others – moving something “forward” in time obviously means that you want to push the deadline further ahead, off into the future. Moving a deadline or meeting “back” seems even more obviously to mean bringing it closer to the present time – in the same way that, when you give back to me the book that I lent you, you’ll be bringing it closer to me in space. But to the majority, moving something forward means moving it closer to the present; moving it back means shifting it further away.
A study just published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that the differences in outlook go deeper than just how we talk about rescheduling meetings. It shows that some people, including most Arabic-speaking Moroccans, see the past as being in front of them, while the future is behind, and suggests a surprising explanation for why that might be the case.A study just published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that the differences in outlook go deeper than just how we talk about rescheduling meetings. It shows that some people, including most Arabic-speaking Moroccans, see the past as being in front of them, while the future is behind, and suggests a surprising explanation for why that might be the case.
To the rest of us, the metaphorical location of the future as being “in front” seems utterly unquestionable, thanks to the basic design of the human body. We’ve all got a front – the side with eyes and a face – and we point it in the direction of wherever we’re traveling. When I walk to the Vietnamese cafe on the corner to buy a sandwich (as I plan to do imminently), my front will be facing towards the distance I have yet to travel; the distance I’ve already covered will be both physically behind me and in the past. Language reinforces this state of affairs: I’m “looking forward” to that sandwich, while I “look back” with embarrassment on that time that I … well, never mind.To the rest of us, the metaphorical location of the future as being “in front” seems utterly unquestionable, thanks to the basic design of the human body. We’ve all got a front – the side with eyes and a face – and we point it in the direction of wherever we’re traveling. When I walk to the Vietnamese cafe on the corner to buy a sandwich (as I plan to do imminently), my front will be facing towards the distance I have yet to travel; the distance I’ve already covered will be both physically behind me and in the past. Language reinforces this state of affairs: I’m “looking forward” to that sandwich, while I “look back” with embarrassment on that time that I … well, never mind.
In 2006, cognitive scientists documented how speakers of the Andean language of Aymara talk and think of the past as in front and the future as behind: the Aymara phrase “nayra mara” means “last year” but translates literally as “front year”. The psychologist Juanma de la Fuente and his colleagues at the universities of Grenada and Chicago point to an example that’s odder still: Moroccans who speak the Arabic dialect of Darija talk about the past and future the way Spaniards (and Americans and Brits) do. But their spontaneous hand gestures imply the opposite. In an experiment, subjects were asked to indicate the location of past and future on a cartoon diagram. It revealed that it was the hand gestures that told the truth about how Darija speakers were thinking: of the past as in front of them, and the future behind. “The way people are thinking about time at any moment”, the study authors write, “may be exactly reversed from the way they are talking about it.”In 2006, cognitive scientists documented how speakers of the Andean language of Aymara talk and think of the past as in front and the future as behind: the Aymara phrase “nayra mara” means “last year” but translates literally as “front year”. The psychologist Juanma de la Fuente and his colleagues at the universities of Grenada and Chicago point to an example that’s odder still: Moroccans who speak the Arabic dialect of Darija talk about the past and future the way Spaniards (and Americans and Brits) do. But their spontaneous hand gestures imply the opposite. In an experiment, subjects were asked to indicate the location of past and future on a cartoon diagram. It revealed that it was the hand gestures that told the truth about how Darija speakers were thinking: of the past as in front of them, and the future behind. “The way people are thinking about time at any moment”, the study authors write, “may be exactly reversed from the way they are talking about it.”
Intriguingly, that suggests that neither language nor the basic arrangement of our bodies is what determines how we imagine the past and future. So what does? In follow-up experiments, the researchers demonstrated that a cultural preoccupation with the past is closely associated with imagining that it’s in front. Darija speakers were much more likely to agree with statements such as “the young people must preserve the traditions”, while Spaniards agreed more with statements such as “technological and economic advances are good for society”.Intriguingly, that suggests that neither language nor the basic arrangement of our bodies is what determines how we imagine the past and future. So what does? In follow-up experiments, the researchers demonstrated that a cultural preoccupation with the past is closely associated with imagining that it’s in front. Darija speakers were much more likely to agree with statements such as “the young people must preserve the traditions”, while Spaniards agreed more with statements such as “technological and economic advances are good for society”.
Don’t go thinking, though, that this is all just a question of people from “exotic” cultures having strange ideas in their heads. As by forward-versus-back example illustrates, the people in your office right now – even the ones who look and speak exactly the same as you – may be seeing the world in fundamentally different ways. The Grenada and Chicago psychologists, meanwhile, also discovered that older people, whichever language they spoke, were more likely to see the past ahead of them, presumably because they had so much more of it. Even asking students to focus on the past, by means of a writing exercise, greatly increased the probability of their seeing the past in front.Don’t go thinking, though, that this is all just a question of people from “exotic” cultures having strange ideas in their heads. As by forward-versus-back example illustrates, the people in your office right now – even the ones who look and speak exactly the same as you – may be seeing the world in fundamentally different ways. The Grenada and Chicago psychologists, meanwhile, also discovered that older people, whichever language they spoke, were more likely to see the past ahead of them, presumably because they had so much more of it. Even asking students to focus on the past, by means of a writing exercise, greatly increased the probability of their seeing the past in front.
And research from 2009 seems to show that some of us think of time as a tunnel we’re moving through, while others see it as a line, left to right, passing them by. (People with the former idea, curiously enough, are more likely to be angry.)And research from 2009 seems to show that some of us think of time as a tunnel we’re moving through, while others see it as a line, left to right, passing them by. (People with the former idea, curiously enough, are more likely to be angry.)
They’re both wrong, of course – time is a flat circle. But it’s yet another reminder of how little we ever really know about what’s going on in other people’s heads. Which is a useful thing to bear in mind, going forward. Or backward. Whatever.They’re both wrong, of course – time is a flat circle. But it’s yet another reminder of how little we ever really know about what’s going on in other people’s heads. Which is a useful thing to bear in mind, going forward. Or backward. Whatever.