Mar 8, 2020 08:02 PM
(This post was last modified: Mar 8, 2020 08:04 PM by C C.)
Caffeine Boosts Problem-Solving Ability but Not Creativity, Study Indicates
https://news.uark.edu/articles/52447/caf...-indicates
RELEASE: Caffeine increases the ability to focus and problem solve, but a new study by a University of Arkansas researcher indicates it doesn’t stimulate creativity. “In Western cultures, caffeine is stereotypically associated with creative occupations and lifestyles, from writers and their coffee to programmers and their energy drinks, and there’s more than a kernel of truth to these stereotypes,” wrote Darya Zabelina, assistant professor of psychology and first author of the study recently published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.
While the cognitive benefits of caffeine — increased alertness, improved vigilance, enhanced focus and improved motor performance — are well established, she said, the stimulant’s affect on creativity is less known.
In the paper, Zabelina differentiates “convergent” from “divergent” thinking. The former is defined as seeking a specific solution to a problem, for example, the “correct” answer. The latter is characterized by idea generation where a large set of apt, novel or interesting responses would be suitable. Caffeine was shown to improve convergent thinking in the study, while consuming it had no significant impact on divergent thinking.
For the study, 80 volunteers were randomly given either a 200mg caffeine pill, equivalent to one strong cup of coffee, or a placebo. They were then tested on standard measures of convergent and divergent thinking, working memory and mood. In addition to the results on creativity, caffeine did not significantly affect working memory, but test subjects who took it did report feeling less sad.
“The 200mg enhanced problem solving significantly, but had no effect on creative thinking,” said Zabelina. “It also didn’t make it worse, so keep drinking your coffee; it won’t interfere with these abilities.”
With coronavirus, the public has abandoned chemophobia
https://www.science20.com/hank_campbell/...bia-246036
INTRO: While 2020 looked to be another year when corporate media journalists would provide the same old Product X "linked to" Disease Y "a new study finds" articles as they have for the entire century, the latest coronavirus, COV-19, has saved us from all that.
While in the past people were willing to pretend concern about what diseases the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was willing to correlate to useful products on a spreadsheet, those days are gone. Chemophobia is a luxury for the idle rich, much like organic food or the anti-vaccine movement.
When people do have something to be concerned over, data dredging goes by the wayside. Reality sets in. Science is back to being a force for good. California and three other states have declared a state of emergency over coronavirus, and people want to know how to protect themselves. No one cares about "organic" label nonsense now, they want to kill stuff.
Fortunately, the products anti-science activists tried to scare us all about in past years still work just fine, and they are still in stores. If you want to protect yourself from Coronavirus, you can do a fun science experiment with your kids and mix two-thirds rubbing alcohol with one third aloe gel, but they are going to wonder why science didn't come up with a better solution than standing around waiting for your hands to dry. Science did. It goes by names like Lysol and Clorox... (MORE)
https://news.uark.edu/articles/52447/caf...-indicates
RELEASE: Caffeine increases the ability to focus and problem solve, but a new study by a University of Arkansas researcher indicates it doesn’t stimulate creativity. “In Western cultures, caffeine is stereotypically associated with creative occupations and lifestyles, from writers and their coffee to programmers and their energy drinks, and there’s more than a kernel of truth to these stereotypes,” wrote Darya Zabelina, assistant professor of psychology and first author of the study recently published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.
While the cognitive benefits of caffeine — increased alertness, improved vigilance, enhanced focus and improved motor performance — are well established, she said, the stimulant’s affect on creativity is less known.
In the paper, Zabelina differentiates “convergent” from “divergent” thinking. The former is defined as seeking a specific solution to a problem, for example, the “correct” answer. The latter is characterized by idea generation where a large set of apt, novel or interesting responses would be suitable. Caffeine was shown to improve convergent thinking in the study, while consuming it had no significant impact on divergent thinking.
For the study, 80 volunteers were randomly given either a 200mg caffeine pill, equivalent to one strong cup of coffee, or a placebo. They were then tested on standard measures of convergent and divergent thinking, working memory and mood. In addition to the results on creativity, caffeine did not significantly affect working memory, but test subjects who took it did report feeling less sad.
“The 200mg enhanced problem solving significantly, but had no effect on creative thinking,” said Zabelina. “It also didn’t make it worse, so keep drinking your coffee; it won’t interfere with these abilities.”
With coronavirus, the public has abandoned chemophobia
https://www.science20.com/hank_campbell/...bia-246036
INTRO: While 2020 looked to be another year when corporate media journalists would provide the same old Product X "linked to" Disease Y "a new study finds" articles as they have for the entire century, the latest coronavirus, COV-19, has saved us from all that.
While in the past people were willing to pretend concern about what diseases the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was willing to correlate to useful products on a spreadsheet, those days are gone. Chemophobia is a luxury for the idle rich, much like organic food or the anti-vaccine movement.
When people do have something to be concerned over, data dredging goes by the wayside. Reality sets in. Science is back to being a force for good. California and three other states have declared a state of emergency over coronavirus, and people want to know how to protect themselves. No one cares about "organic" label nonsense now, they want to kill stuff.
Fortunately, the products anti-science activists tried to scare us all about in past years still work just fine, and they are still in stores. If you want to protect yourself from Coronavirus, you can do a fun science experiment with your kids and mix two-thirds rubbing alcohol with one third aloe gel, but they are going to wonder why science didn't come up with a better solution than standing around waiting for your hands to dry. Science did. It goes by names like Lysol and Clorox... (MORE)