Marc Wittmann Books
Marc Wittmann is a German psychologist and neuroscientist at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg. His research focuses on time perception, consciousness, and bodily awareness.
Known for: Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
Books by Marc Wittmann
Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
Why does a boring afternoon feel endless while a joyful weekend disappears in a blur? Why do childhood summers seem vast, yet the years of adulthood appear to speed by? In Felt Time, psychologist and neuroscientist Marc Wittmann explores these deceptively simple questions and shows that time is not only something measured by clocks, but something lived through the body, mind, and emotions. The book examines how humans perceive duration, how attention and memory shape the flow of experience, and why our sense of time changes across situations, states of consciousness, and stages of life. Wittmann draws on psychology, neuroscience, phenomenology, and clinical observation to explain subjective time in a way that is both rigorous and accessible. His core insight is that time perception is deeply tied to bodily awareness and self-consciousness: to feel time is, in part, to feel ourselves existing moment by moment. This makes the book valuable not only for readers interested in cognition, but also for anyone who wants to better understand stress, aging, mindfulness, mental health, and the texture of everyday life.
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The Brain Has No Single Clock
We often speak as if the brain contains a hidden stopwatch, but Wittmann’s research suggests something far more interesting: human time perception emerges from distributed processes rather than one central clock. Mechanical time is precise, standardized, and external. Psychological time is construct...
From Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
Body Awareness Anchors Temporal Experience
A striking idea at the center of Felt Time is that our sense of time is inseparable from our sense of the body. Wittmann emphasizes interoception, the perception of internal bodily signals such as heartbeat, breathing, tension, warmth, and visceral sensations. We do not experience time as detached m...
From Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
Attention Shapes the Speed of Time
Time does not simply pass; it is filtered by where the mind goes. Wittmann shows that attention is one of the most powerful influences on subjective duration. When we focus directly on time, especially while waiting or anticipating something, moments tend to stretch. When our attention is absorbed i...
From Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
Everyday Life Expands and Compresses Duration
One of the most relatable themes in the book is that time stretches and shrinks in ordinary life. Wittmann distinguishes between prospective time judgment—how long something feels while it is happening—and retrospective time judgment—how long it seems after we look back on it. These can diverge dram...
From Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
Memory and Anticipation Create Continuity
We do not live only in the present instant. Wittmann argues that our experience of time is woven from retention of the just-past, awareness of the now, and anticipation of what comes next. Without memory and expectation, consciousness would fracture into disconnected moments. Felt time is therefore ...
From Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
Altered States Transform the Sense of Time
Few experiences reveal the constructed nature of time more clearly than altered states. Wittmann examines meditation, flow, drug experiences, trauma, extreme sports, and contemplative absorption to show that time can dramatically change when consciousness changes. In some states, moments become more...
From Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time
About Marc Wittmann
Marc Wittmann is a German psychologist and neuroscientist at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg. His research focuses on time perception, consciousness, and bodily awareness.
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Marc Wittmann is a German psychologist and neuroscientist at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg. His research focuses on time perception, consciousness, and bodily awareness.
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