What makes a past time period feel longer or shorter? We find evidence for a metamemory contrast effect in which the relationship between the number of events remembered from a time period and the number of events that one expects to remember from that period interact to determine felt duration. Specifically, days in the distant past can come to feel longer than more recent days (Study 1), which we propose arises due to the difference between expected memories and actual memories for that day (Study 2). The higher level of expected memories relative to actual memories for days closer to the present creates an expectation gap that underpins changes in subjective duration. Varying expectations for memories (Study 3) or the facilitation of recall for memories (Study 4) alters subjective duration such that the larger the gap, the shorter the subjective duration.

是什么让过去的时间段感觉更长或更短？我们找到了元记忆对比效应的证据，其中从一个时间段记住的事件数量与人们预期的事件数量之间的关系记住那个时期的相互作用以确定感觉的持续时间。具体来说，遥远过去的日子会比最近的日子（研究 1）感觉更长，我们认为这是由于那天的预期记忆和实际记忆之间的差异（研究 2）。在更接近现在的日子里，相对于实际记忆的更高水平的预期记忆会产生一个预期差距，从而支撑主观持续时间的变化。对记忆的不同期望（研究 3）或对记忆回忆的促进（研究 4）会改变主观持续时间，使得差距越大，主观持续时间越短。