Extreme fear can make time feel like it's slowing down by triggering your brain to record memories in vivid, high-density detail.

In 2007, neuroscientist David Eagleman conducted a landmark study at Baylor College of Medicine to investigate this phenomenon. Participants were dropped from a 150-foot tower into a net to induce extreme fear. While falling, they wore a "perceptual chronometer" designed to test whether their vision actually sped up during the drop.The results revealed that people did not actually see in slow motion like a high-speed camera. Instead, the amygdala—the brain's emotional center—becomes hyperactive during life-threatening situations. It activates a secondary memory system that is far more detailed and rich than everyday memories.Because the brain processes a massive influx of sensory data during the threat, the retrospective evaluation of the event becomes distorted. When the mind recalls these densely packed memory packets, it interprets the sheer volume of information as a longer duration of time. This phenomenon is known as the "oddball effect" or "time dilation" in psychology.This mechanism provides an evolutionary advantage by allowing the brain to analyze every detail of a threat. By making a split-second event feel like several seconds, the body can better evaluate and execute survival responses. Ongoing research continues to explore how this high-definition memory recording helps humans avoid future dangers by creating detailed mental maps of threatening situations.