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Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
21–30 of 77 posts
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#22Exercise boosts brain power https://vimeo.com/16335377 by brainrules.net
A funny 3.5min clip that explains why we produce BDNF during exercise and how we can enhance our brain power. Highly recommended :-)
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#23> One possible future research issue: Is it walking per se or do other forms of mild physical activity have similar elevating effects? I've always found that aimlessly driving around in a car improves my creativity (much the same as walking, if not more). Yet driving means you're sitting, and I wouldn't say driving involves much more physical activity than typing and moving a mouse. Strange.
Maybe driving similarly engaged your sense of navigating the external world?
(I have no personal experience of the effect you describe.)
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#24> “Many people anecdotally claim they do their best thinking when walking. We finally may be taking a step, or two, toward discovering why,”
Uh... there is literally nothing in this summary that suggests anything at all about why, is there? What are the steps or two?
I know we can all make guesses and have pet theories, not asking for that here!
Just annoyed at the scientists who seem to be over-reaching/over-promissing what their research reveals. It seems to be a step (probably not two) towards verifying that what many people intuitively believed is in fact a wide-spread phenomenon, that walking improves creativity. It seems to be zero steps toward discovering why.
Am I missing something?
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#25> One possible future research issue: Is it walking per se or do other forms of mild physical activity have similar elevating effects? I've always found that aimlessly driving around in a car improves my creativity (much the same as walking, if not more). Yet driving means you're sitting, and I wouldn't say driving involves much more physical activity than typing and moving a mouse. Strange.
Driving does the same for me.
I'm paraphrasing here, but I've seen a neuroscientist say that some people think better when their mind is slightly engaged. So driving around engages your mind just enough that you can go into a more flow-like state.
I've probably butchered this explanation, but go watch Lex Fridman's first interview with Andrew Huberman if you want to see him explain it properly.
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#26"All great thoughts are conceived while walking"
Doing nothing does something?
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#27> “Many people anecdotally claim they do their best thinking when walking. We finally may be taking a step, or two, toward discovering why,” Uh... there is literally nothing in this summary that suggests anything at all about why, is there? What are the steps or two? I know we can all make guesses and have pet theories, not asking for that here! Just annoyed at the scientists who seem to be over-reaching/over-promiss…
Welcome to psychology research. One of my most controversial opinions is that this field is moot. The subjects are most often either college students or Mechanical Turk workers, usually white and American but that doesn't stop the researchers from haphazardly generalizing their conclusions to the entire human population.
Plus the field suffers from a replicability issue that Feynman complained about back in his day.
Sure you might say, other fields suffer from similar criticisms but for those fields you can immediately tell what hypothesis they are making and how you can challenge them whereas with psychology there is no telling which characteristics of the subjects yielded the observed results.
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#28Relatedly, I’ve tried to reduce my habit of listening to podcasts on long walks. I didn’t realize (until way too late) that this habit was stealing creative time from my brain. Podcasts flip my brain into “passive media consumer” mode during what were otherwise my most intellectually creative minutes and hours, and nonfiction/business/tech podcasts also fool my ego into thinking that the podcast listening time is “productive”, to boot.
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#29I don't know about creativity, but walking definitely helps me think. Whenever I start thinking about something real hard, I naturally stand up and start walking around the room. It helps me tremendously.
Re: Study finds walking improves creativity (2014)
#30Relatedly, I’ve tried to reduce my habit of listening to podcasts on long walks. I didn’t realize (until way too late) that this habit was stealing creative time from my brain. Podcasts flip my brain into “passive media consumer” mode during what were otherwise my most intellectually creative minutes and hours, and nonfiction/business/tech podcasts also fool my ego into thinking that the podcast listening time is “pr…
I also noticed this since my commute time dropped to zero because of the pandemic. I’m now motivate myself to go for a walk (alone) few times a week.