You just described my theory exactly. Humans have to learn how to exist in the "zone" of mental abstraction... this is necessary for advanced cognition, but while we're doing it we don't really notice the passage of time.

I can't help but wonder if the hours I spent waiting for the last few minutes of boring class periods to end during my schooling might have actually been great training for "zoning" where the sped up passage of time is actually the goal.