Sep 20 2012: I could not find any TIME conversation of yours, but next time dropping a link would be useful. Regarding your comment on the topic, your example of an athlete slowing down time is just a perception. Focus is a talent built through repetition.
To put it in terms of the context I described: the athlete has captured this instance of a pitch many times and in many variations. From this repetition the athlete builds a memory of this occurrence; enough memories to process and create assumptions and predictions based on the athlete's experience. Those predictions and assumptions allows the hitter to swing at the ball with a high percentage of getting a hit.
To the amateur player or spectator, the speed of the ball might have the perception that it is fast because their processing rate of the time instances that they are capturing is not as skilled or as repeated as the athlete.
I believe your example points out how people can use memory to increase their ability to focus - possibly creating an advantageous perception of the current time; otherwise slowing down time is just a special effect in the movies.
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A comment on Conversation: Time in the Mind
To put it in terms of the context I described: the athlete has captured this instance of a pitch many times and in many variations. From this repetition the athlete builds a memory of this occurrence; enough memories to process and create assumptions and predictions based on the athlete's experience. Those predictions and assumptions allows the hitter to swing at the ball with a high percentage of getting a hit.
To the amateur player or spectator, the speed of the ball might have the perception that it is fast because their processing rate of the time instances that they are capturing is not as skilled or as repeated as the athlete.
I believe your example points out how people can use memory to increase their ability to focus - possibly creating an advantageous perception of the current time; otherwise slowing down time is just a special effect in the movies.