Three Seconds

From The Telegraph:

Researchers at Dundee University's School of Psychology studied the post-competition embraces of Olympic athletes to reach the conclusion [that hugs last 3 seconds], which they say applies across countries and cultures.

The findings confirm that a hug lasts about as long as many other human actions, and supports a theory that humans go through life perceiving the present in a series of "time windows", each lasting about three seconds.

The duration is the same the world over.

Cross-cultural studies over the past century have shown that people tend to operate in these bursts.

Goodbye waves, musical phrases, infants' bouts of babbling and gesturing, and the French "bises" -- a greeting kiss on each cheek -- all last about three seconds.

Read more here.

MR