I would peg it somewhere in the memory pathways too. Still, generally, when I for example see something for the first time - an ad, say - it feels much longer than it will on any subsequent view.<p>Then there are the dreams: an immense amount of information, minutes or hours of "dream time" but only seconds to minutes of real time. (For the adventurous: you can actually get to a state where you can experience this while awake by causing yourself severe sleep deprivation which leads to, essentially, waking dreams.)<p>There is a flipside, too: the slow-motion feel you get in a dangerous situation.<p>Maybe it is simply that the brain is capable of a higher processing rate than what it usually uses, and it is employed when necessary. Usually in cases of manipulating the memory pathways (including dreaming), but also triggered by survival situations.