Category: Epiphanies

Neoteny Experiment/Study: In 1979, Harvard professor Ellen Langer orchestrated an unorthodox experiment dubbed “the counterclockwise study.” Langer’s hypothesis was based on a mind-over-matter hunch: “If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically?”

Chronologically, we all age at the same rate. We get one day older every day. Psychologically, we all age at different rates and in different ways! We all know people who are the same age chronologically but you would never know it by the way they look, act, or think. We say that ‘time has been kind’ to some and ‘unkind’ to others but are there factors we can control when it comes to aging well?

Langer recruited participants in their late seventies or early eighties, pitching her study as ‘research on reminiscing.’ She knew she couldn’t turn back time, but she could turn back the clock. “We would re-create the world of 1959 and ask subjects to live as though it were twenty years earlier. If we put the mind back twenty years, would the body reflect this change?”

Langer and her team retrofitted an old monastery in Peterborough, New Hampshire, to recreate 1959. When participants walked through the front door, it was like stepping back in time. A vintage radio played Perry Como. The Ed Sullivan Show was rebroadcast on a black and white television. Books and magazines were curated to conjure 1959. Even the mirrors, which would have reminded participants of their actual ages, were removed. To help participants get into character, they were also asked to write brief autobiographies as though it were 1959 and send photographs of their younger selves.

The group was given a ground rule: no one was allowed to discuss anything that happened after 1959. They discussed historical events as if they were current events. Talking past tense was out of bounds. Everything was experienced present tense , as if it were happening in real time. It was a total time warp.

Before I share the results of Langer’s study, let me share one of my favorite words—neoteny. It’s a zoological term that refers to the retention of youthful qualities into adulthood. I’m not sure who comes to mind for you, but I immediately think of Caleb. Biblically-speaking, he’s the patron saint of neoteny. When he finally stepped foot in the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, he was not unlike this group of geriatrics who stepped into the retrofitted monastery. Caleb felt 40 all over again! (And, I believe, by the supernatural power of God’s goodness and grace, he actually was as strong at 80 as he was at 40 [also partnering with God and His Love by living a life of faith and obedience]!)

“I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so is my strength now.” Joshua 14:11, AMPC

I know this is Caleb’s self-assessment, but I have no reason to doubt him. I think he could have deadlifted as much at eighty-five as he could at forty. How? Here’s my theory: As long as you’re going after a God-sized dream with God-given passion, you’re never past your prime! Vision makes time fly…but it slows down the aging process.

Before the counterclockwise study began, participants were tested for a wide variety of biological and intellectual markers. Just one week after turning back time to 1959, the participants showed measurable improvement in physical strength, manual dexterity and taste sensitivity. Their hearing and vision improved, as did their performance on intelligence tests. Even their fingers lengthened as the effects of arthritis diminished!

On the first day of the study, some of these geriatrics could barely shuffle through the front door. On the last day of the study, they went outside and played an impromptu game of football on the front lawn. It was touch, not tackle, but impressive nonetheless.

Before the counterclockwise study began, participants were tested for a wide variety of biological and intellectual markers. Just one week after turning back time to 1959, the participants showed measurable improvement in physical strength, manual dexterity, and taste sensitivity. Their hearing and vision improved, as did their performance on intelligence tests! Even their fingers lengthened, as the effects of arthritis diminished!!

On the first day of the study, some of these geriatrics could barely shuffle through the front door. On the last day, they went outside and played an impromptu game of football on the front lawn!

The participants weren’t the only ones who felt like time had been turned back. An independent group of volunteers who knew nothing of the counterclockwise study were asked to evaluate before and after pictures of the participants. The after photos were judged to be more than two years younger than the before photos! And that was after only one week.

Before initiating the counterclockwise study, Ellen Langer consulted with geriatricians to determine the biological markers of age. She was told that there were none! Doctors discern age the same way the rest of us do-by birth date! Beyond that, science cannot pinpoint someone’s age through a physical examination or blood test, etc.

“I have come to believe less and less that biology is destiny,” contends Ellen Langer. “If a group of elderly adults could produce such dramatic changes in their lives so, too, can the rest of us.” How? Wind the clock!

Excerpt from Mark Batterson’s brilliant, well-researched book, Win the Day, ppgs. 159-162.