Interesting papers to read 9
Piero Giacomelli
CIO | Group IT Manager at Fidia Farmaceutici SpA | Packtpub Book Author | Manning Publication Reviewer | Passionate about math
According to today's paper,
Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking
By Marily Oppezzo
when you are stuck with something the best thing to do is going for a walk.
The paper provides evidence that walking can boost creative thinking. In four experiments, the authors found that people who walked were more creative than those who sat. This effect was found for both divergent thinking (the ability to come up with multiple solutions to a problem) and convergent thinking (the ability to find the best solution to a problem).
The authors argue that walking increases creative thinking by freeing up cognitive resources. When we sit, our brains are constantly bombarded with sensory information from our surroundings. This can make it difficult to focus on creative tasks. When we walk, however, our brains are less focused on the environment and more focused on our thoughts. This allows us to come up with new and creative ideas.
This finding has implications for both individuals and organizations. For individuals, it suggests that we can boost our creativity by simply getting up and moving around. For organizations, it suggests that we can create more creative environments by encouraging employees to take breaks and walk around.
The paper is also important because it challenges the traditional view of creativity. Creativity is often seen as a mysterious process that is beyond our control. However, the paper suggests that creativity is something that we can cultivate through our everyday actions. By walking, we can give our ideas some legs and boost our creativity.
It provides a new way to think about creativity. In the past, creativity has been seen as a purely cognitive process. However, the paper suggests that creativity is also influenced by our physical activity. This finding has implications for our understanding of creativity and for our efforts to boost it.
It has the potential to improve our lives in many ways. Creativity is associated with a number of benefits, including improved problem solving, decision making, and innovation.