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Allowing the Mind To Wander Aids Creative Problem Solving
ananyo writes "From the Nature story: 'Scientists from Archimedes to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are said to have had flashes of inspiration while thinking about other things. But the mechanisms behind this psychological phenomenon have remained unclear. A study now suggests that simply taking a break does not bring on inspiration — rather, creativity is fostered by tasks that allow the mind to wander.' The researchers gave 145 students 2 minutes to list as many possible uses for an everyday object (the creative thinking task). Participants then either rested, undertook a demanding memory activity that required their full attention or engaged in an undemanding reaction-time activity known to elicit mind-wandering. A fourth group of students had no break. The researchers then set the students a second set of unusual-uses tasks and found those that had, in the interim, been set the undemanding task that encouraged mind-wandering performed an average of around 40% better than they did before. The students in the other three groups showed no improvement."
rather, creativity is fostered by tasks that allow the mind to wander.
And this is why mild drugs should be legal. The effects greatly increase mind wandering and in right amounts, lead to highly increased creativity. I don't support highly abusive drugs as they have risky side effects, but for example marijuana should be legal.
It is actually even more healthy and good for the society than alcohol. For most people alcohol drinking tends to bring out their bad sides like aggressiveness, health problems and uncontrolled thinking. Pot on the other hand increases creativity, brings relaxation and has no negative effects on your health (especially if you don't smoke it but eat with browns or pizza [tastes like oregano actually, but better]).
Some of the best ideas I've come up with happened in the shower, usually after a long day of working on a project.
Another words a whole pile on money has been spent/wasted to prove that
- When you are stuck on a problem, take a break, do something different and then come back to it refreshed and you are more than lilely to solve it.
Pah.
This is why I like camping. Nothing like being stuck outside, hopefully far away from any sort of electrical devices, alone with nothing but your mind and dappled sunlight through the trees to keep you company. I'm never more productive than the week after I spent a weekend sleeping under the stars.
Stuck at home, my hobbies use a lot of the same parts of the brain my work does. But I enjoy them more, so I work harder at them. That often leaves me wearier on Monday than I was on Friday.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I expect those of us in intellectually demanding jobs have encountered the step back effect.
You'll spend three hours banging your head against your desk trying to find a solution to a tricky problem. Eventually, the caffeinated beverages you've been throwing back conspire against you and you have to make a trip to the bathroom. I solve more tricky problems during those 2 minute bathroom breaks than at any other point in the day.
Incidentally I find I can use this effect to justify all kinds of frowned upon office behaviour. I'm not watching cat videos on Youtube, I'm stepping away from the problem. I'm not browsing the Dilbert archives, I'm putting some distance between myself and the dilemma. I'm not facebook stalking the temp on reception, I'm seeking an alternative perspective on the issue du jour.
For those of you who are practicing mindfulness - you know:when you're washing the dishes; wash the dishes - being in the present and concentrating on what you're doing, On the other hand, it seams that Mindfulness practice would negate creative thinking. Granted, there are plenty of times where I've come up with some creative ideas during meditation only to have to put them aside and go back to the breath - and then struggle to remember WTF I thought of.
I don't know ... maybe it's my own dichotomy that I've created in my own mind .....
When I am working on a particularly difficult problem, I read Slashdot for a bit. After drinking down an article about the TSA or censorship, boom! The solution just pops into my head and away I go. That's the Slashdot Advantage(tm)!
When it's something I work really intensely, I often come up with the best solutions indirectly in a dream. That is, I'll dream of a solution - usually it's not directly helpful, but upon waking it's easy to follow the impractical dream solution to its roots and find the real answer. Usually in a "oh that's so obvious, why didn't I see it sooner?!" kind of way.
Walking is another good time for me - unless I"m listening to an audiobook, which seems to suppress the necessary 'mind wandering'.
It's not news, it's a euphemism that's been around for years: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
In other news, water - wet, air - dry, penguins - little Hitlers in tuxedos.
I usually have my algorithmic eurekas when I sleep, but I never seem to recall the solution when I wake up. Damn.
The dreaming way can go bad quite quickly. Nowadays, due to too much internet use, I keep seeing dreams of internet articles, forum posts, slashdot posts.. All written by different persons with different styles, and actually quite interesting and technical posts. But all generated in my head. Hilarity ensues later when you try to figure out what information has been real and what has been dreaming.
problem is, my mind keeps wandering all day long, so no work is being done.. LOL...
What was that?
Green is not a creative color.
A unique way to learn a language: http://languageloom.com
And I thought "focus" was what I needed! Thanks! I'm pouring the methylphenidate down the toilet. Wandering mind here I come! No effort needed.
I have had these also, usually very early REM sleep I wake up and say "Wholly crap that is the Fix!". I found at least for myself that I don't even have to keep a pencil and paper near the bed. These ideas are remembered in the morning, and usually refined while getting ready for work.
For TFA, I wonder what they did for "mind wandering" activities? They don't mention their specific method, and most that I know of like meditation require training.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
.
And stops my mind from wandering
Where will it go
I'm filling the cracks that ran through the door
And kept my mind from wandering
Where will it go
I'm painting the room in a colorful way
And when my mind is wandering
There I will go . .
We are Dead Stars looking back Up at the Sky
An undemanding task that lets the mind wander... I think they're not wanting to come right out and admit that most people do their best thinking on the toilet.
Receiving an extra dose of oxygen comes as a bonus on top. Many original thinkers have used techniques like this over the years.
Sorry, you [citation needed] nazis. Look up the references yourselves. Ideally while being on a long walk, not sitting at the same desk the whole day.
You know it's time for the next revolution when your rulers' names end with roman numerals.
At one job I had where we were working 10+ hour days, continuously for over a month I would occasionally have wet dreams about inanimate objects at work.
Deeply Disturbing.
I get my best ideas while on vacation. Unfortunately, my employer fails to realize that, so I'm stuck being unproductive in an office 40 hours a week.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
If your mind wanders a lot and you know how to make good use of it it's a bonus feature but if your mind wanders a lot and you don't know how to make good use of it them it's a mental disorder.
And I thought "focus" was what I needed! Thanks! I'm pouring the methylphenidate down the toilet. Wandering mind here I come! No effort needed.
If you're an artist or in a creative profession you wont need them. Also if you can figure out how to have ADHD and make it work for you rather than against you then you don't need them.
I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was, uh, solving problems...
"We don't pay you to think. Get back to work"
--
BMO
Correction: (Score: -100, Stupid Bullshit; die in a fire)
When I was in elementary school and day dream, my dad would tell me that I needed to "stop going to 'la la land'".He would even mockingly imitate me in "la la land" in the most obnoxious manner possible. This is one of the many BS things my parents did to me and my dad really doesn't get why our relationship is always on pins and needles. My mom OTOH doesn't realize our relationship is on pins and needles and copes with her own undiagnosed ADHD with a 2 liter diet soda everyday. My dad going diagnosed with ADD a few years ago and is completely ashamed of it; he doesn't want to talk about it, thinks everyone else must accommodate his BS because he has it, and refuses to accept that it's a reason for the behavior now but not an excuse now that he's diagnosed.
Seriously didn't find out that I was ADD until my ADHD wife told me I'm probably ADD, would benefit by getting tested, and then working with professionals on finding the best solutions to my problems. Found out a couple of years later from my mom that they knew I probably had ADD, but didn't want to get me any help (drugs or otherwise). Instead yelling at me about was their accepted solution.
My future daughter and potential children, I hope, will benefit from our experience as there's a good chance they'll have ADD. Pediatrician has already forbade computers and TVs being viewable by the munchkin; noise from the TV is discouraged as well, but classical music is encouraged. /Yeah I mommy and daddy issues. Hopefully my children won't.
Have gnu, will travel.
My problem has never been allowing the mind to wander, it's always been chasing the damn thing down and getting to to do something constructive. Think outside the box they say, but what if you were born without one?
When I was in college during exams, I sometimes encountered an "unsolvable" problem. There was tremendous emotional pressure as the time slowly ran out. I would try to overpower my way to a solution by forcing my brain to hammer at the problem. Usually this was to no avail.
Then after handing in the exam and walking back to my dorm the pressure was off, and suddenly the solution would come to me in a flash. Either I knew the solution or I knew how to solve the problem.
If only there was a way to get into this psychological state under pressure. That is what elite athletes mean when they say they are in the "zone".
I solve most of my problems by shitting, sleeping, or day dreaming about the hot chick who sits next to me in Engineering Physics.
How quickly this thread took a nose-dive: to drugs. Drug use is just an experience, is not inspiration in and of itself, and rarely leads to creativity (especially marijuana-- sorry, we've seen the effects, let's not have it again).
Creativity is more likely to occur by standing on one's own head, going for a long directionless walk, meeting new people and having random sex. Creativity is brought on by motion and a hidden, held tightly, seed.
Poets, artists, writers, and musicians have long understood this yet scientists have not.
I ask you, why is that scientists these days are merely scholars-- chuck-full of facts and logic with no vision, insight, inspirational, or life experience to derive from. TFA is just this.
This phenomenon was discussed in Robert Pirsig's classic novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance many years ago.
I'll reply to you since the top third of this story was all about drugs. Let's go back to fairly basic Psychology.
Problem Arises.
The reason it's a Problem(Capital P) is that there's no 8-minute fix.
Dumb/Boring Managers like A-B-C-D work. It looks good on Activty Reports and Time Cards and Metrics and so on.
Good Managers realize that Problem is not solved by screaming at your Go To Guy. So *IF* you trust your Go To Guy that he's not a lazy oaf, you have to be ready for some Non-Linear Chaos. And I mean Chaos. And there's 11 TV shows acting out the Chaos! Monk, House, Psych, your choice of 8.
Dumb/Boring Managers like steps they can follow - while simultaneously NOT fixing the Problem. They just want to yell at people until it's solved.
Smart managers give their Go To Guys three hours and see what shows up. It's not their concern (if they are smart!) if the steps from Problem to Solution contain the following steps: Sheep, Sheep Wool, Biogenetic Effects on Sheep Wool, Plant Color, Bio Effect on Plant Color, Workers as Plants, Worker Morale like Plant Color, Effects that affect Worker Morale, Hidden Conditions of Worker Productivity, and Voila!
"Start a 3 month program with a 2-tier priority list and work on non-essential update technology in between crises".
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Thank you for posting anonymously.
I am one of the few lucky people with creativity in many areas. Mutiple and inter disciplinary subject learning has helped me to get patterns from different domains and apply them to novel situations. Pattern recognition and pattern matching begin with our survival instinct. Mathematics teaches us to create and use patterns with approximation models . Arithmetic patterns and use of short-hand (reduction) patterns such as, multiplication is shorthand for successive addition, exponentiation is nothing but self multiplication, factorial is decreasing multiplication and so on. Unfortunately our teachers in the US have no clue about all these and just repeat what the text books say. So, while most of us are being creative, we have been converted into test takes and grade grabbers. A few exceptions end up as our inventors producing wealth for the whole world. We are afraid of failure, thus never try. Bill Gate et al., had failure but their creativity continued making tons of money for them. Academic smart, creative smart and street smart are all part of success. We only encourage academic smarts and street smarts who end up killing our economy. Historical patterns are repeating themselves yet our elected official show their ignorance and poor understanding of these historical patterns. Roman empire was destroyed by arrogant Romans and the arrogant GOPs are repeating the same patterns of destruction of our American dreams and economy. Where is the creativity?
[H]ow do you get "respond with violence"
Oh simple. The Libertarian fundies regard all state action as violence since, following their unacknowledged philosophical mentor, Mao Tse Tung, they believe that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." :p
I think this is how libertarians get their reputation as being a little bit goofy.
This is surely not the sole source of their goofyness?
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
I don't have ADHD, I'm just creative!
I have had these also, usually very early REM sleep I wake up and say "Wholly crap that is the Fix!". I found at least for myself that I don't even have to keep a pencil and paper near the bed. These ideas are remembered in the morning, and usually refined while getting ready for work.
For TFA, I wonder what they did for "mind wandering" activities? They don't mention their specific method, and most that I know of like meditation require training.
From my experience, meditation--namely insight meditation and Zazen--require more practice and patience than training.
Well between programmers, we call it a Hammock Driven Development http://blip.tv/clojure/hammock-driven-development-4475586
Try explaining to your boss or spouse, that the time spent playing a mindless game on the computer is actually an intense mind-wandering session that is going to boost your productivity. Or that you need this time to be your creative best.
In my experience, few people 'get it'.
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
I agree that if the person can find a way to structure their schooling/life/employment to work well with ADHD, then the meds are unnecessary. As an autistic, I'm very much against using drugs or "therapy" on someone with the goal of making them function like a semi-broken neurologically-typical person -- but sometimes (like for my mom) they're bouncing off the wall and have a minute-long attention span regardless of what they try. :-/
"If you're an artist or creative person you won't need them."
Not true at all. People working as writers (as in my case), artists, etc. still need to be able to stay in one place and focus on their task for extended periods, typically in the same Zen-like state someone working on a program has. If they write three sentences or spend five minutes working on an image, then wander off for two hours to do other stuff, then wander back for another few minutes, it won't get done or will be of poor quality, and they won't get paid.
Now, if they can find a way to set everything up that's AD[H]D-compatible, then they can probably pull it off, but that applies to programming or just about anything else.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
Okay, trying that again now that I have it set to Plain Old Text to get paragraph breaks...
I agree that if the person can find a way to structure their schooling/life/employment to work well with ADHD, then the meds are unnecessary. As an autistic, I'm very much against using drugs or "therapy" on someone with the goal of making them function like a semi-broken neurologically-typical person -- but sometimes (like for my mom) they're bouncing off the wall and have a minute-long attention span regardless of what they try. :-/
If you're an artist or creative person you won't need them.
Not true at all. People working as writers (as in my case), artists, etc. still need to be able to stay in one place and focus on their task for extended periods, typically in the same Zen-like state someone working on a program has. If they write three sentences or spend five minutes working on an image, then wander off for two hours to do other stuff, then wander back for another few minutes, it won't get done or will be of poor quality, and they won't get paid. Now, if they can find a way to set everything up that's AD[H]D-compatible, then they can probably pull it off, but that applies to programming or just about anything else.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
Rewriting since my last one lost its paragraph breaks and got off-topic...
ADHD isn't a matter of the mind merely wandering, though -- the H means they're too hyperactive to remain still (they have to constantly be in motion of some sort), and the ADD means that they're completely distracted by sensory input and/or their brain leaps from one half-finished thought to the next. It's hard to make use of interesting ideas or solutions if it you're distracted by something else before you record it and/or can't focus long enough to work on it.
I think it's possible to rearrange one's life so it works well with an ADHD brain, just like I've set mine up to match my autistic brain, and likewise, if we can find a talent that our brain type compliments then we're golden, so to speak -- but that's the reverse of finding a way to make our condition work with the circumstances. That's why disability accommodations exist: so we can work to our full ability without being placed at an artificial disadvantage (i.e. disabled) by the man-made environment/society being sculpted to suit a different kind of brain/body.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
I remember when I was younger we didn't watch a lot of television and we were very creative. We had to come up with ways to entertain ourselves and each other. Sometimes these ideas had practical applications that allowed us to do something easier. Some people who have disorders such as ADHD are very creative and they stay focused on their creative projects until they're done without interruption, their ability to stay focus on just that project is amazing and their attention to other things are more scattered.
forcing kids to sit at a desk and focus on one thing doesn't work.
The researchers then set the students a second set of unusual-uses tasks and found those that had ...
First of all, thousands of apologies for being dense
Read and re-read TFA multiple times but still couldn't figure out what the fuck is that " unusual-uses tasks " as quoted above
Anyone cares to elaborate ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !