The sequence of time is all in your head, according to a new study published Monday in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The experiment isolated some of the neural pathways in the human brain that are responsible for recalling and recording the passage of time, leading researchers to better understand the mechanisms behind time and memory.
Neuroscientists found that the "time cells" in participants' brains fired at particular moments, including at times when there was not any external stimuli, suggesting that they were responding to an internal sense of sequencing.
At the start of the experiment, researchers asked nine participants to retain a short optical sequence of images in order, including a bird, flower, and Barack Obama, Vice reported. The experiment would randomly be paused, and participants would be asked about the next image in the order. Their neural responses where monitored, revealing that time cells in their brains were firing at specific moments all the time during the study.
In addition to solving the mysterious process of temporal organization within the brain, the new findings could aid patients with conditions that affect their memory and ability to process time.