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

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 there’s 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 person’s 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 don’t 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. 持续的

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。（剩余496字）