Do You Work Better in Silence or With Moderate Background Noise?
SodaHead Living
2012/06/24 21:05:52
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According to a recent study, moderate background noise may actually be more conducive to creative thinking than total silence.
Ravi Mehta, a business administration professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and two of his colleagues explained to TIME:
“For individuals looking for creative solutions to daily problems, such as planning a dinner menu based on limited supplies or generating interesting research topics to study, our findings imply that instead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking out of one’s comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment (such as a cafe) may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas.”
When trying to solve problems, we often avoid the distraction and disruption of noise. But apparently, a certain degree of “disfluency” or “processing difficulty” is good for us. By disrupting our normal thinking patterns, moderate background noise can spur abstract thinking and creativity.
But don’t go seeking out too much of a good thing. “A high level of noise . . . impairs creativity by reducing the extent of information processing.”
What about you SodaHeads? Do you work better in silence or with moderate background noise?
Ravi Mehta, a business administration professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and two of his colleagues explained to TIME:
“For individuals looking for creative solutions to daily problems, such as planning a dinner menu based on limited supplies or generating interesting research topics to study, our findings imply that instead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking out of one’s comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment (such as a cafe) may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas.”
When trying to solve problems, we often avoid the distraction and disruption of noise. But apparently, a certain degree of “disfluency” or “processing difficulty” is good for us. By disrupting our normal thinking patterns, moderate background noise can spur abstract thinking and creativity.
But don’t go seeking out too much of a good thing. “A high level of noise . . . impairs creativity by reducing the extent of information processing.”
What about you SodaHeads? Do you work better in silence or with moderate background noise?
Read More: http://business.time.com/2012/06/21/need-to-brains...
Top Opinion
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Depsycho 2012/06/25 00:53:47With Moderate Background Noise
When it comes to art, bring on the music.
Thing is you got used to it. Eventually you even MISSED it when it wasn't there. Ever since then I cannot work at all in total silence.