Fascinating article about perception of time

I found this article on the BBC News website, which IMHO is one of the best news sites around.

Have you ever experienced your own personal time dilation? Usually this happens at a stressful time, such as in a car crash, where you perception shifts and time seems to slow down. Is it real or is it just a psychological memory blip?

Well a team from the University of Texas came up with a plan to test and measure if this actually happens. They invented a device called a "perceptual chronometer" which flickers between two displays of an LED screen. Normally the flicker is so fast you only see a blur. But if during a time of stress, such as falling backwards of a 33 foot high scaffolding, then if time perception slowed down, you should be able to read the display.

After repeated jumps the "victim", sorry the test subject actually made out a random number on the device, proving that his perception of time had slowed down and he was able to read the LED screen - fascinating stuff.

After this I went on to speculate about the practical applications of this? Surely the next step is to try and determine what physiological symptoms cause this shift in perception and if it is possible to recreate it at will. I am sure the military would find a use for a heightened perception "switch", but maybe they wouldn't like a perpetually terrified platoon of soldiers. Good material for a short story I think...