Getting back from a trip 'ahead of time'

New study finds our expectations of a lengthy initial trip make the return trip seem shorter

2011-08-27

(Press-News.org) After returning from holiday, it's likely you felt that the journey home by plane, car or train went much quicker than the outward journey, even though in fact both distances and journey are usually the same. So why the difference? According to a new study by Niels van de Ven and his colleagues it seems that many people find that, when taking a trip, the way back seems shorter. Their findings, published online in Springer's Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, suggest that this effect is caused by the different expectations we have, rather than being more familiar with the route on a return journey.

"People often underestimate how long the outward journey takes and this is therefore experienced as long," says Niels van de Ven from Tilburg University in the Netherlands. "Based on that feeling, the traveller expects the return journey to be long as well, and this then turns out to be shorter than expected." An overoptimistic prior estimation of the journey time thus leads to the illusion of the return journey being shorter.

This conclusion was based on three short studies where 350 people either took a trip by bus, by bicycle or watched a video of a person taking a bicycle ride. When the duration estimates were compared, respondents thought that the return journey on average went by 22 percent faster than the outward journey. The return trip effect was largest for participants who reported that the initial trip felt disappointingly long. Further, when one group of participants was told that the upcoming trip would seem long, the return trip effect disappeared. Ironically, telling participants that the upcoming trip was going to be very long led them to experience the trip as taking less time.

Up until now, a popular explanation for the return journey feeling shorter was that it was better known and so more predictable than the outward journey. However in their study, the researchers demonstrated that this explanation is unlikely. According to co-author Michael Roy from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, USA: "The 'return trip effect' also existed when respondents took a different, but equidistant, return route. You do not need to recognize a route to experience the effect."

Ultimately, the researchers hope to be able to explain more than just this return trip effect. The authors conclude: "These findings on the 'return trip effect' can help us make new predictions on how people experience the duration of tasks, even those unrelated to travelling."

### Reference Van de Ven N, van Rijswijk L and Roy MM (2011) The return trip effect: Why the return trip often seems to take less time. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. DOI 10.3758/s13423-011-0150-5

The full-text article is available to journalists on request.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Smoking soon after waking raises risk of lung and head and neck cancers

2011-08-27

August 25, 2011 -- Two new studies have found that smokers who tend to take their first cigarette soon after they wake up in the morning may have a higher risk of developing lung and head and neck cancers than smokers who refrain from lighting up right away. The findings by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Penn State College of Medicine may help identify smokers who have an especially high risk of developing cancer and would benefit from targeted smoking interventions to reduce their risk. The research was published early online ...

President's Bioethics Commission to wrap up historical investigation

2011-08-27

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At its public meeting on August 29 in Washington, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues will publicly discuss several key findings as it refines the conclusions of its historical investigation into the U.S. Public Health Service (U.S. PHS) studies done in Guatemala in the 1940s. The U.S. PHS research involved intentionally exposing and infecting vulnerable populations to sexually transmitted diseases. The Commission's historical investigation is due to President Obama in September. Following the revelation last fall that the ...

NIH research model predicts weight with varying diet, exercise changes

2011-08-27

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have created a mathematical model – and an accompanying online weight simulation tool – of what happens when people of varying weights, diets and exercise habits try to change their weight. The findings challenge the commonly held belief that eating 3,500 fewer calories – or burning them off exercising – will always result in a pound of weight loss. Instead, the researchers' computer simulations indicate that this assumption overestimates weight loss because it fails to account for how metabolism changes. The computer ...

New Multi-Player Isis Online Casino Slot Game Launched at Platinum Play Australia

2011-08-27

Considered the sequel to the already popular Isis video slot game, Multi-Player Isis has just launched to a great deal of fanfare at Platinum Play Australian Casino. One of the biggest differences in this new version is the community feel players will receive when playing this pokies game, meaning that players will be able to view other players game at the same time they are playing. Some might view this as the competitive edge they need and others might simply find it interesting to see how other players are enjoying the game. Either way, this new feature is very different ...

The malaria mosquito is disappearing -- but it is not just good news

2011-08-27

The incidence of malaria in many African countries south of the Sahara is falling rapidly. A Danish-Tanzanian research group has discovered that the mosquito carrying the malaria parasite has practically disappeared from villages without organized mosquito control, and the researchers do not know why. There are several hypotheses but without proper data they cannot say whether malaria is being eradicated or whether it is just resting up before returning with renewed vigour. "Many of our fellow malaria researchers think that the fall in countries such as Tanzania, Eritrea, ...

Berkeley Lab scientists unveil an X-ray technique called HARPES

2011-08-27

The expression "beauty's only skin-deep" has often been applied to the chemistry of materials because so much action takes place at the surface. However, for many of the materials in today's high technologies, such as semiconductors and superconductors, once a device is fabricated it is the electronic structures below the surface, in the bulk of the material or in buried layers, that determine its effectiveness. For the past 30 years, one of the most valuable and widely used techniques for studying electronic structures has been ARPES – Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy. ...

AsiaRooms.com - Oakley World Pro Junior Surfing Contest Coming to Bali

2011-08-27

Young surfers will be congregating in Bali this October to take part in the keenly contested Oakley World Pro Junior competition. To be held between October 3rd and 14th at Keramas Beach, the event will see six young men and two women compete for a cash prize of $75,000 (GBP45,800), one of the largest paydays available to those in this age group. Qualification for the prestigious competition has been taking place over the course of the year at leading surf venues across the world, including Australia, France, the US and Japan. The Indonesian leg of the qualifying ...

AsiaRooms.com - Enjoy Seoul Performing Arts Festival Next Month

2011-08-27

A feast of cultural activities will be commencing in South Korea next month with the launch of the 2011 Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF). Beginning on September 28th, the event will involve a total of 36 performances from artists hailing from eight countries, running through to the end of October. Dance, theatre and multidisciplinary shows will be put on by companies from countries such as France, Germany, Australia, Italy and Japan as well as Korea itself, with the event representing one of the nation's leading performing arts festivals. Shows will be ...

Fossil discovery represents new milestone in early mammal evolution

2011-08-27

A well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today's mammal species--the placental mammals. According to a paper published today in the journal Nature, the fossil represents a new milestone in mammal evolution that was reached 35 million years earlier than previously thought. It fills an important gap in the fossil record and helps to calibrate modern, DNA-based methods of dating evolution. The paper, by a team of scientists led by Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo, ...

AsiaRooms.com - Watch Sum 41 on Tour in Kuala Lumpur

2011-08-27

Canadian punk rock act Sum 41 will be playing to audiences in Kuala Lumpur as part of their global tour in October 2011. The popular four-piece band from Ontario will perform at the Malaysian capital's National Sports Complex venue on October 8th, with the show lasting from 19:00 until 22:00 local time. Sum 41 have been a fixture of the punk scene since the release of their hugely successful debut album All Killer, No Filler in 2001, which included hit songs such as Fat Lip, In Too Deep and Motivation. They are currently touring as they continue to promote their ...

Getting back from a trip 'ahead of time'

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: