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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.
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.
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.
Mindfulness doesn't mean you can never let your mind wander so long as letting your mind wander is what you are trying to do.
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...
Green is not a creative color.
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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.
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.
... but this is nothing new.
Guess why Steve Jobs made long walks when he had difficult problems to solve. Not being locked into the same room, but with new impressions all the time, the mind receives new inspirations, instead of following the same path of thoughts over and over.
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.
... but this is nothing new.
Guess why Steve Jobs made long walks when he had difficult problems to solve. Not being locked into the same room, but with new impressions all the time, the mind receives new inspirations, instead of following the same path of thoughts over and over.
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.
Tell that to the parents and teachers who are over medicating students who have ADHD.
I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was, uh, solving problems...
"We don't pay you to think. Get back to work"
--
BMO
Are you one of those idiots who think that somehow we are turning kids into mindless zombies because they are prescribed an amphetamine?
If an amphetamine is allowing them the ability to sit still and study then they had a serious issue.
If you give an amphetamine to a kid who does not have a serious issue they are not going to be sitting still and studying.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
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.
That's not true at all. For instance, I've seen Ritalin cause people who definitely don't have ADHD to become focused on studying for hours on end.
-- Let us endeavor so to live that when we pass even the undertaker shall be sorry. -- M. Twain
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?
Age group and setting?
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
"If you give an amphetamine to a kid who does not have a serious issue they are not going to be sitting still and studying.
My doctor said the same thing. He said the amount of amphetamine I was taking would normally make a person very hyper, but it settled me down. He even recommended small dosages of caffeine, which also settled me. Not so much large dosages.
Since I'll be leaving work soon and won't look for a response until tomorrow.
In my post I said "kids" ie, children. People who are under 13 years of age I would consider kids.
Yes, if you give an adolescent or above Ritalin for the purpose of focusing on school work in a school setting it will most probably work for that use, same as caffeine. It will also though give them a "high" off of it which is quite distracting that ADD people do not get. A child with that "high" will bounce off the walls, not study. The only reason an adolescent or above isn't bouncing off the walls on the medication is self discipline which children lack.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
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".
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Thank you for posting anonymously.
I don't have ADHD, I'm just creative!
I know all the CEOs of the world bow to your expertise and slavishly follow your every tidbit of advice, but for the few unfortunates who do not have a direct connection to, and trust in, your infinity wisdom, having a study prove these things may be a step in the right direction in implementing this particular nugget in the workplaces.
IAIFARSIJDPOOTV - I Am In Fact A Reality Star; I Just Don't Play One On TV
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!)
The Libertarian fundies regard all state action as violence since, following their unacknowledged philosophical mentor, Mao Tse Tung
WTF? Shit, I've either been feeding a troll or you're clueless about history. Mao Tse Tung was about as far from a libertarian as one could possibly get.
Free Martian Whores!
I think he's talking about what's passing for "libertarian" in the US, today.
You are welcome on my lawn.
forcing kids to sit at a desk and focus on one thing doesn't work.
WTF? Shit, I've either been feeding a troll or you're clueless about history. Mao Tse Tung was about as far from a libertarian as one could possibly get.
That's what the poking tongue smiley was doing there (I don't know how to do a tongue-in-cheek smiley), I simply pointing out the delicious irony. If that fits your definition of a troll, then troll I am. And no, I'm anything but clueless about history. Of course a naive libertarian (if I may use that term) might simply observe that Mao is honestly laying bare the true nature of the state. And I wonder if the prominence of this quote in years gone by may not have in some way influenced the tendency among the more extreme of contemporary libertarians, such as AC above, to see absolutely all actions of the state as an expression of violence.
C'mon, what AC wrote on his blog really made no sense at all, unless you remembered that they literally do believe that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Coming to "see the wisdom" of requiring helmets and goggles is violence!?
The reason I wrote "Libertarian fundies" (or "naive libertarianism" above) was not merely to be derogatory, but to distinguish myself. As you would know (if you followed that link) I do endorse what I called the "libertarian imperative," my own ethics are based in part on respecting the dignity of the individual human being (and liberty is a requirement for such dignity), even if this has led me to consider the problematic cases under which freedom might to some extent be curtailed.
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
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 !
Ah, I simply misunderstood. Thank you.
Free Martian Whores!
And look mate, if I personally insulted you (say with my quip about what is pathetic in older men), I apologise. I can be a real arsehole.
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
Since I'll be leaving work soon and won't look for a response until tomorrow.
In my post I said "kids" ie, children. People who are under 13 years of age I would consider kids.
Yes, if you give an adolescent or above Ritalin for the purpose of focusing on school work in a school setting it will most probably work for that use, same as caffeine. It will also though give them a "high" off of it which is quite distracting that ADD people do not get. A child with that "high" will bounce off the walls, not study. The only reason an adolescent or above isn't bouncing off the walls on the medication is self discipline which children lack.
Not true at all. I had ADHD as a kid and was given those meds and quit taking them precisely because the "high" was dumbing me down and causing me to have a slower yet more focused brain. Focus is good and all for something like math where you just do the same series of problems for an hour but it's horrible for anything which requires creativity or out of the box thinking. Ritalin also messed things up with regard to social skills.
So unless you've been on ritalin as a kid to know, maybe you wouldn't know there was or wasn't a high but I recall there was. As a kid I knew when I was on it and didn't necessarily like it.
"If you give an amphetamine to a kid who does not have a serious issue they are not going to be sitting still and studying.
My doctor said the same thing. He said the amount of amphetamine I was taking would normally make a person very hyper, but it settled me down. He even recommended small dosages of caffeine, which also settled me. Not so much large dosages.
I think what makes kids hyper is the sugar they were putting in the food. Hyper activity is related mostly to the diet.
Ritalin makes the brain focus on boring uninteresting tasks for longer. It helped me to do my math homework but that is about it. For just about everything else from social skills (sense of humor) to creativity to innovative type thinking this kind of focus didn't help and in fact hindered my ability to thought drift my way into unique perspectives or solutions. The thought drift that people with ADHD have is perceived as negative and for some people with ADHD it really is, but in my case it was more I wasn't doing my math studies because I got so bored that I would thought daydream or thought drift onto something I was more interested in. I existed in the moment, and I didn't find school interesting or all that challenging at the time and was more interested in spending 8 hours straight playing video games than spend 8 hours studying algebra.