Inspired by Distraction: Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation
Inspired by Distraction: Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation
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DOI：
10.1177/0956797612446024
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发表时间：
2012-10-01
影响因子：
8.2
通讯作者：
Schooler, Jonathan W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Baird, Benjamin;Smallwood, Jonathan;Schooler, Jonathan W.
虽然几千年前就有奇闻轶事说，当一个人从事一个不相关的思路时，创造性的想法往往会出现，但实证研究尚未调查过这种潜在的关键灵感来源。我们使用了一个孵化模式来评估是否可以通过参与要求高的任务或要求低的任务来促进创造性问题（不寻常用途任务，或UUT）的表现，从而最大限度地分散注意力。与从事要求高的任务、休息或不休息相比，在潜伏期从事要求不高的任务会大大提高先前遇到的问题的表现。关键的是，在潜伏期后提高表现的环境与更高水平的走神有关，但与更多关于UUT的明确定向思想无关。这些数据表明，从事简单的外部任务，让思维走神，可能有助于创造性地解决问题。
Although anecdotes that creative thoughts often arise when one is engaged in an unrelated train of thought date back thousands of years, empirical research has not yet investigated this potentially critical source of inspiration. We used an incubation paradigm to assess whether performance on validated creativity problems (the Unusual Uses Task, or UUT) can be facilitated by engaging in either a demanding task or an undemanding task that maximizes mind wandering. Compared with engaging in a demanding task, rest, or no break, engaging in an undemanding task during an incubation period led to substantial improvements in performance on previously encountered problems. Critically, the context that improved performance after the incubation period was associated with higher levels of mind wandering but not with a greater number of explicitly directed thoughts about the UUT. These data suggest that engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative problem solving.