Why Are Some People Always Late?为什么有些人总是迟到？

Sascha Pare

在日常生活中，我们偶尔会因为意外情况而迟到，但有一部分人，对他们而言，迟到是家常便饭。这种习惯性迟到，又怎么解释呢？

Being late is a tendency that some people cannot seem toshake. Many factors contribute to 1）perpetual lateness， including timeperception， and personality.

“It is likely that theres a 2）mechanism in the brain that causessome people to be late for meetings because they underestimate thetime it will take them to get there，” said Hugo Spiers， a professor ofcognitive neuroscience at University College London. The hippocampusis a region of the brain which processes some aspects of time， such asremembering when to do something and how long it takes. Neurons inthe hippocampus acting as “time cells” contribute to our perception andmemory of events.

Crowdedness may have an impact on our time perception.In a 2022 study in the journal Virtual Reality， researchers asked3）participants to estimate the length of more or less crowded simulatedsubway trips. They found that crowded commutes felt like they took10% longer than less busy rides， which was linked to it being anunpleasant experience.

Personality also plays a role in running late. Certain personalitytraits， such as reduced conscientiousness， can cause some peopleto forget tasks that they had planned ahead of time， a professor atCampbell University in North Carolina， Waldum said. “Another factorthat may influence a persons timeliness is how prone to multitaskingthey are，” she added. People juggling several tasks atonce are less likely to remember and completeother scheduled tasks on time. “The bestlaid plans can fail simply becausewe dont have enough attentionalresources left to carry them outsuccessfully，” Waldum said.

So what can perpetually latepeople do to be 4）punctual andavoid disappointing friends and lovedones？ Setting alarms and reminders onthe phone is a good way. Another way is toset pre-event deadlines.

1） perpetual adj. 持續的

2） mechanism n. 机制

3） participant n. 参与者

4） punctual adj. 准时的

一些人总是无法改掉迟到的习惯。时间感知和个性等因素都会导致他们总是迟到。

伦敦大学学院的认知神经学教授雨果·施皮尔斯表示：“大脑中可能存在一种机制，导致一些人开会迟到，因为他们低估了到达那里所需的时间。”海马体是大脑中的一个区域，处理着时间信息，例如记住何时做某事以及需要多长时间，海马体中充当“时间细胞”的神经元有助于我们对事件的感知和记忆。

拥挤会影响我们的时间感知。2022 年发表于《虚拟现实》杂志上的一项研究中，研究人员要求参与者估计更拥挤或不那么拥挤的模拟地铁行程的时长。他们发现，拥挤的通勤感觉需要的时间比不那么拥挤的行程长10%，这与其是一种不愉快的体验有关。

个性也在迟到中起着一定的作用。北卡罗来纳州坎贝尔大学教授沃尔德姆说，某些个性特征，如较低的责任心，可能会导致某些人忘记他们事先计划好的任务。“另一个可能影响一个人守时性的因素是他们多任务的倾向。”她补充道。同时做几件事的人更不可能记得并准时完成其他计划好的任务。沃尔德姆说：“最好的计划可能失败，只是因为我们没有足够的注意力资源来成功地执行它们。”

那么，经常迟到的人该怎么做才能准时，避免让朋友和亲人失望呢？在手机上设置闹钟和提醒是一个好方式。另一种策略是设置活动前的最后期限。