Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

news.uark.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 208 posts

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#51

Post by failrate »

flycaliguy wrote: post #17

As a graphic designer my advice for people looking to convert a stimulant into divergent thinking fuel is building yourself a framework for developing creative ideas. Not exactly rocket science, but I do see where this article is coming from. Lots of thumbnail drawings and constructive criticism from a teammate is the meat of it. Also... be naturally good at divergent thinking I guess? I love working with people who…

Sure, and if you find yourself getting stage fright, you can use something like Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies.

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#52

Post by factsaresacred »

k__ wrote: post #5

What boosts creativity? I sometimes used alcohol for song writing purposes. Are there healthier methods?

An afternoon nap is the number one 'trick' for me. You get to experience that well-rested clarity twice in the one day.

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#53

Post by strikelaserclaw »

throwsprtsdy wrote: post #30
flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #14

I would have thought that problem solving abilities necessitated creativity? If the solution was obvious, where's the problem?

Anecdotally, I was recently cramming a lot of "Leetcode medium" questions to prepare for job interviews, and after a couple of weeks, I was drinking Starbuck's coffee and solving those problems like a machine... seriously, like a machine . I found I did get better (or at least much faster) at recognizing subproblems and quickly composing an overall solution, even if none of the steps was particularly creative. After…

For me there was a optimal caffeine intake for peak leet code problem solving, the biggest thing is that coffee makes me perform better but if that disturbs my sleep that day, then the next day more coffee would make me more wired but much slower at problem solving. So peak leetcode for me is good sleep and adequate caffeine but not too much that it destroys sleep.

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#54

Post by nicoburns »

vsareto wrote: post #13
nscalf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Write drunk, edit buzzed, then?

Beer code tends to forget about edge cases in my experience, so yeah

Yeah, a former colleague of mine told me they used to regularly drink a pint of beer with an evening of coding, until on one occasion they introduced a subtle bug which took them two days to hunt down.

They were working in C, which makes it a lot easier to introduce subtle bugs than most languages, but I certainly think twice about coding while under the influence since I heard that story!

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#55

Post by mindslight »

dacohenii wrote: post #23

Thank you for linking to the paper. The study measures the effects of regular caffeine users: > Participants were invited to participate if they were between 18-35 years of age, consumed between 1-2 cups of caffeinated beverages per day at least 5 days a week, did not smoke, were native English speakers, and took no psychiatric medications or painkillers on a regular basis. > [...] > Participants were asked to abstai…

I'm in touch with the dose because I tend to nibble pills. It's weird to me how often people consume caffeine uncritically, skipping days, having arbitrary massive doses, etc. I'm clean right now, but if I were going to start up again, 66-100mg would be all I needed to be flying. The 200mg in the study is odd to me, because that kind of dose only makes sense for someone who is already chemically dependent.

Cold turkey is the only effective way I've found to lower my dose. My personal caffeine withdrawal timeline is about 4-5 weeks (starting from say 400-500mg/day). The first few days are bad, the next few days are better. The second week is terrible. The third week is worse. Then it slowly gets better.

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#56

Post by strikelaserclaw »

Proziam wrote: post #32
throwsprtsdy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, I was recently cramming a lot of "Leetcode medium" questions to prepare for job interviews, and after a couple of weeks, I was drinking Starbuck's coffee and solving those problems like a machine... seriously, like a machine . I found I did get better (or at least much faster) at recognizing subproblems and quickly composing an overall solution, even if none of the steps was particularly creative. After…

Another anecdote, but when prepping for any sort of competition I used to be a hard-core caffeine consumer (measurable in grams, instead of mg) and it sometimes led to some weird effects. After a day or two of that level of caffeine intake, I go into an almost trance of productivity and performance. It feels like I'm watching myself do what I need to do, not that I have to 'do it' myself. It's a very strange sensatio…

I know exactly what you mean. My theory is that getting amped up on caffeine keeps you from getting decent sleep, which means your cortisol/whatever hormones are still kinda high when you wake up, so when you take even more caffeine upon awakening, your body seems to move forwards from a different baseline than when you drink coffee after completely resting. This along with the fact that for me personally, being tired makes me more focused in a very one dimensional way, i can be very immersed in what im doing without ever really questioning if what im doing is even worth doing in the first place.

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#58

Post by adrianmonk »

I guess I never assumed it did. For me, the experience of caffeine is more or less that it just wakes up my brain. Whatever type of thinking I was already capable of or inclined toward when my brain is engaged, it just enables me to actually do it.

It is nice to have a more scientific basis to back that up, though.

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#59

Post by salt-licker »

dacohenii wrote: post #23

Thank you for linking to the paper. The study measures the effects of regular caffeine users: > Participants were invited to participate if they were between 18-35 years of age, consumed between 1-2 cups of caffeinated beverages per day at least 5 days a week, did not smoke, were native English speakers, and took no psychiatric medications or painkillers on a regular basis. > [...] > Participants were asked to abstai…

Yep, I almost never drink coffee more than 3 days in a row because it loses its affect. Luckily, intolerance comes back after only a day or two off.

Re: Caffeine boosts problem-solving ability but not creativity, study indicates

#60

Post by drenvuk »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #19
k__ wrote: post #5

What boosts creativity? I sometimes used alcohol for song writing purposes. Are there healthier methods?

I'm no artist, but I've always felt creativity comes from dysfunction/chaos. My wife (a psychologist) and I discuss this regularly around poetry, music, painting, etc. Some of the most "beautiful" works come from unhealthy emotional states. And that a lot of the sameness we get today in popular culture arises when art is cultivated by large organizations which are inherently are devoid of emotion, and are pushing pop…

Yeah that's for most divergent thinking. In the art realm here's an example of Penny Arcade's Tycho talking about anti depressants and the usual lack of creativity that comes with them. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/01/09/bedeviled

Linkin Park's Bennington Talked numerous times about how his drug addictions helped him creatively despite him wanting to be sober. His later more sober songs kinds suck tbh.

The thoughts that come from drug tweaked brains are always slightly off. Sometimes though not usually, the thoughts are unique in a novel and attractive way. For creative thinking, dosing on something may be effective but I doubt it's healthy.

Post reply on HN