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How your heartbeat shapes your sense of time

Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode How we experience time.

Cognitive neuroscientist Irena Arslanova says our brain perceives time but our body shapes how we experience it. She shares how our heartbeat influences whether we experience time moving fast or slow.

About Irena Arslanova

Irena Arslanova is a researcher in cognitive neuroscience at Royal Holloway, University of London. She wants to understand the experience of time. She is currently investigating how internal bodily signals, like the beating of the heart, can distort time.

Arslanova earned a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at University College London, where her research on touch and internal bodily signals evolved into her current work connecting the internal body to the perception of time.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook and email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.

Web Resource

Related TED Bio: Irena Arslanova

Related TED Topic: All about the heart

Related TED Talk: What happens in your brain when you pay attention?

Related NPR Links

Short Wave: Our lives are ruled by the illusion of time

TED Radio Hour: Memory and the Brain

NPR: How did COVID warp our sense of time? It's a matter of perception

Copyright 2025 NPR

Manoush Zomorodi
Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour.
Katie Monteleone
Sanaz Meshkinpour