I’m back already….? Return Trip Effect explained

COLD SHRINKS STUFF. And this proves that global warming is false! You heard it here first.
THE reason the return trip takes less time is that the distance is shorter.  This is because our world is shrinking.  The only reason for that is that we are entering an ice age.  COLD SHRINKS STUFF. And this proves that global warming is false!  You heard it here first. ice  
n. The illusion that the return trip takes less time than the initial trip, even when the distance and actual time of both trips are the same.
 Examples
2015
In past years, researchers have suggested that it has to do with the way our bodies experience and measure time as it passes, or the way we remember the trips we take after the fact, or perhaps a bit of both.
On Wednesday, a team in Japan released a new report in the journal PLOS ONE detailing the latest effort to solve the mystery. This group’s take? That the return trip effect is created by travelers’ memories of their journeys — and those memories alone.
—Eryn Brown, “The trip back home often seems to go by faster — but why?,” Los Angeles Times, June 10, 2015
2014
What causes this so-called “return trip effect”? You might guess that it has something to do with knowing the route — on the way back, you see landmarks that help you better gauge when you’re close to your destination. Well, you’d be wrong! According to this study, the return trip effect (which makes the return trip seem 17-22% shorter on average!) is seen even when people take different routes on the outward and return trips.
Although changing expectations may play a role in the Return Trip Effect for unfamiliar destinations, when traveling on familiar roads these data suggest that lower levels of conscious engagement with driving is the likely reason for the subjective experience of shorter return trips.
—S. G. Charlton & N. J. Starkey, “Why the trip home is shorter, but not faster” (PDF), Proceedings of the 2013 Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing & Education Conference, August 28, 2013
2011 (earliest)
Three studies confirm the existence of the return trip effect: The return trip often seems shorter than the initial trip, even though the distance traveled and the actual time spent traveling are identical.
A pretest shows that people indeed experience a return trip effect regularly, and the effect was found on a bus trip (Study 1), a bicycle trip (Study 2), and when participants watched a video of someone else traveling (Study 3). The return trip effect also existed when another, equidistant route was taken on the return trip, showing that it is not familiarity with the route that causes this effect. Rather, it seems that a violation of expectations causes this effect.
—Niels van de Ven, et al., “The return trip effect: Why the return trip often seems to take less time,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, August 23, 2011

Filed Under

Our Favorites

Picture of jaron

jaron

Jaron Summers wrote dozens of primetime television and radio programs, including those for HBO, CBS, ACCESS TV and CBC. He conceived the TV and Film Institute of Canada. Funded by the University of Alberta and ITV, Jaron ran the Institute for 12 years, donating his services for a decade.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Read More

Wacky tales

Who Am I Now?

People I trusted lost my identity and it’s in the hands of person’s unknown or a spy. It all began
Wacky tales

To All the Girls I’ve Loved

John Michael Hughes recently explained to the authorities why he let himself into a Malibu, California house. He said his
Wacky tales

Somebody

My wife, Kate, never gets angry with me. And I never get angry or even impatient with her. You see,