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
If it's problem solving or tasks that require deep concentration, background noise can be a distraction.
If it's mundane chores, background noise is usually a welcome accompaniment.
if I need to listen CAREFULLY to what I am working with or on ..
then SILENCE is best ..
but if there's no danger to myself ..
then a light bit of background noise (usually some classical music) is what is used.
Yes. silence is scary. It's where we confront our own true selves, warts and all- and all of those icky things we've tried to suppress from our conscious awareness for- well---forever.
I love silence- I need it. I don't encounter many people, young or old, with the ability to concentrate- without the need for a constant stimulation- and apparently Sodahead Living- suffers from the same attention deficit- as they did not notice that the conclusions- are this-
" level of ambient noise enhances performance on creative tasks and increases the buying likelihood of innovative products."
No. My best paintings only occur at 2 AM. If "creativity" is equivalent to "increasing the likelihood of buying"- this country is super screwed.
This paper examines how ambient noise, an important environmental variable, can affect creativity. Results from five experiments demonstrate that a moderate (70 dB) versus low (50 dB) level of ambient noise enhances performance on creative tasks and increases the buying likeli...
Yes. silence is scary. It's where we confront our own true selves, warts and all- and all of those icky things we've tried to suppress from our conscious awareness for- well---forever.
I love silence- I need it. I don't encounter many people, young or old, with the ability to concentrate- without the need for a constant stimulation- and apparently Sodahead Living- suffers from the same attention deficit- as they did not notice that the conclusions- are this-
" level of ambient noise enhances performance on creative tasks and increases the buying likelihood of innovative products."
No. My best paintings only occur at 2 AM. If "creativity" is equivalent to "increasing the likelihood of buying"- this country is super screwed.
This paper examines how ambient noise, an important environmental variable, can affect creativity. Results from five experiments demonstrate that a moderate (70 dB) versus low (50 dB) level of ambient noise enhances performance on creative tasks and increases the buying likelihood of innovative products. A high level of noise (85 dB), on the other hand, hurts creativity. Process measures reveal that a moderate (vs. low) level of noise increases processing difficulty, inducing a higher construal level and thus promoting abstract processing, which subsequently leads to higher creativity. A high level of noise, however, reduces the extent of information processing and thus impairs creativity.
folks with tinnitus are more prone to depression than the norm.
furthermore, it's a major pain. and, as we get older, it gets louder. oh, goody, something else to look forward to. :(
Yes it is a pain in b**t. :-)
and yeah. everyone's ears ring from time to time. imagine if it were 24/7 and getting louder with each passing year. that's tinnitus.
You reminded me of a poem I once wrote-
In my quiet
sun is golden
silence is silver