"The moment you study creativity in the laboratory you dilute it," says Joydeep Bhattacharya at Goldsmiths University London. "Have we seen hard evidence that daydreaming leads to creativity? Not yet."
Still, there are hints from outside the lab that a wandering mind can bring success in the real world - albeit from a small study. In 2003, Shelley Carson at Harvard University and colleagues studied people who had written a published novel, patented an invention or had art shown at a gallery. In computer tests that required participants to screen out irrelevant information - latent inhibition tests - she found these high-achievers were less likely to disregard inconsequential details and focus on the task, compared with an average person. In other words, their minds more frequently wandered from the task at hand, a tendency that may have left them open to novel or left-field ideas (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol 85, p 49).
- Richard Fisher, Daydream your way to creativity
Still, there are hints from outside the lab that a wandering mind can bring success in the real world - albeit from a small study. In 2003, Shelley Carson at Harvard University and colleagues studied people who had written a published novel, patented an invention or had art shown at a gallery. In computer tests that required participants to screen out irrelevant information - latent inhibition tests - she found these high-achievers were less likely to disregard inconsequential details and focus on the task, compared with an average person. In other words, their minds more frequently wandered from the task at hand, a tendency that may have left them open to novel or left-field ideas (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol 85, p 49).
- Richard Fisher, Daydream your way to creativity
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