According to “The Mozart Effect,” listening to Mozart’s work can increase creativity, concentration, and other cognitive functions.

Researchers have discovered many interesting things about the effects of classical music — especially Mozart’s — on the brain. For example:

* In a controlled University of California study, students who listened to 10 minutes of Mozart before taking SATs had higher scores than students who didn’t.
* Major corporations like Shell, IBM, and DuPont, along with hundreds of schools and universities, started using classical music to cut learning time in half and increase the retention of newly learned material. They noticed that creativity scores soared when people listened to Mozart.
* In a University of Washington study, people who listened to light classical music for 90 minutes while copyediting a manuscript caught 21% more mistakes.
And that’s not all …
* According to research done in a Baltimore hospital, heart patients got as much benefit from 30 minutes of classical music as they did from 10 mg of Valium.
* In a CaliforniaStateUniversity study, migraine sufferers were trained to use music, imagery, and relaxation techniques to reduce the frequency, intensity, and duration of their headaches.

http://www.earlytorise.com/boost-your-creativity-with-the-mozart-effect/

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201311/musical-trainin...

* In 1996, the College Entrance Exam Board Service conducted a study of all students taking their SAT exams. Students who sang or played a musical instrument scored an average of 51 points higher on the verbal portion and 39 points higher on the math portion of the test.

Neuroscientists are discovering multiple ways that musical training improves the function and connectivity of different brain regions. Musical training increases brain volume and strengthens communication between brain areas. Playing an instrument changes how the brain interprets and integrates a wide range of sensory information, especially for those who start before age 7. These findings were presented at the Neuroscience 2013 conference in San Diego.

In a press briefing on November 11, 2013 Gottfried Schlaug, MD, PhD—who is an expert on music, neuroimaging and brain plasticity from Harvard Medical School—summarized the new research from three different presentations at the conference. These insights suggest potential new roles for musical training including fostering plasticity in the brain; have strong implications for using musical training as a tool in education; and for treating a range of learning disabilities.

"Music might provide an alternative access into a broken or dysfunctional system within the brain," said Schlaug. Adding, "Music has the unique ability to go through alternative channels and connect different sections of the brain."

Sometimes the whole experience of writing by hand—the ink on our fingers, the smell of a fresh notebook—is all it takes to get our creative juices flowing

Use the left hand to stimulate the other side of your brain

http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518

Using advanced tools such as magnetic resonance imaging, researchers are finding that writing by hand is more than just a way to communicate. The practice helps with learning letters and shapes, can improve idea composition and expression, and may aid fine motor-skill development.

It's not just children who benefit. Adults studying new symbols, such as Chinese characters, might enhance recognition by writing the characters by hand, researchers say. Some physicians say handwriting could be a good cognitive exercise for baby boomers working to keep their minds sharp as they age.

Studies suggest there's real value in learning and maintaining this ancient skill, even as we increasingly communicate electronically via keyboards big and small. Indeed, technology often gets blamed for handwriting's demise. But in an interesting twist, new software for touch-screen devices, such as the iPad, is starting to reinvigorate the practice.

se your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth, comb your hair or use the mouse. Write with both hands simultaneously. Switch hands for knife and fork.

Leonardo Da Vinci had specific techniques that he used to stimulate his intelligence and heightened creative thinking. He was ambidextrous and could write and paint with both hands at the same time. You can stimulate your mind by writing with your non-dominant hand for 10 mins a day. You could also learn to juggle (yes, Leonardo was great at juggling too!). He made copious notes which he wrote in mirror-writing (backwards letters written from right to left). Try and include some mirror writing in your daily practice -- it stretches your mind and challenges your awareness.

Research suggests our ability to solve problems improves when we think about events far off in the past or future or in another location. So picture New Year’s Eve 2022 or dining at a café in Paris and let the imagination go!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-easy-way-to-increase-c/

One answer is psychological distance. According to the construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance, anything that we do not experience as occurring now, here, and to ourselves falls into the “psychologically distant” category. It’s also possible to induce a state of “psychological distance” simply by changing the way we think about a particular problem, such as attempting to take another person's perspective, or by thinking of the question as if it were unreal and unlikely. Scientists have demonstrated that increasing psychological distance so that a problem feels farther away can actually increase creativity.

The colors tend to enhance performance on cognitive tasks.Researchers say that’s because we associate blue with the ocean, sky, and openness in general, while green signals growth.
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/people/elliot_andrew/assets/pdf/2012_Lichten...

The present research sought to extend the nascent literature on color and psychological functioning by examining whether perception of the color green facilitates creativity. In four experiments, we demonstrated that a brief glimpse of green prior
to a creativity task enhances creative performance. This green effect was observed using both achromatic (white, gray) and chromatic (red, blue) contrast colors that were carefully matched on nonhue properties, and using both picture-based and word-based assessments of creativity. Participants were not aware of the purpose of the experiment, and null effects were obtained on participants’ self-reported mood and positive activation. These findings indicate that green has implications beyond aesthetics and suggest the need for sustained empirical work on the functional meaning of green.

Freaky: One study found using two hands to explain something prompts the brain to consider issues from multiple perspectives . (It’s also possible that using the left hand stimulates creative thought, since left-handed people tend to be more creative in general.) Just don’t accidentally slap anyone in the face.

http://web5.soc.northwestern.edu/annemariepiper/Slepian2012.pdf

Cognitive scientists describe creativity as fluid thought. Drawing from findings on gesture and embodied
cognition, we hypothesized that the physical experience of fluidity, relative to nonfluidity, would lead to
more fluid, creative thought. Across 3 experiments, fluid arm movement led to enhanced creativity in 3
domains: creative generation, cognitive flexibility, and remote associations. Alternative mechanisms such
as enhanced mood and motivation were also examined. These results suggest that creativity can be
influenced by certain types of physical movement.

In one study, people who sat outside a box (literally) were better at thinking creatively (i.e. thinking outside the box) than people who sat in it . No cardboard container handy? Try sitting in the hallway outside a room.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/01/for-a-creativity-boost-think-outside...
http://thinkjarcollective.com/tools/five-metaphors-that-actually-foster-cre...


Literally sit outside a box
“Thinking outside the box” is an awfully overused cliché. Nevertheless, it does capture the idea that in creativity you have to try and explore new areas.

In their research, Leung’s team had participants literally either sitting in boxes or sitting next to boxes while doing creativity tests. Remarkably, the researchers found that this simple manipulation worked. People who were literally sitting outside of a box came up with more ideas than those sitting in the box.

Research found people were better at solving anagrams when they were lying down versus sitting up . It might not fly in an office meeting, but test it out during the next solo brainstorming sesh.

http://news.anu.edu.au/2005/05/09/creative-thinking-try-lying-down/

According to Dr Lipnicki, whose results are to be published in Cognitive Brain Research, the reason this happens may involve differences in brain chemistry between lying down and standing up.

“In theory, there may be greater release of a chemical, noradrenaline, in the brain when standing up than when lying down.

“It’s suspected that noradrenaline inhibits the abilities to solve anagrams and to think creatively so we decided to test the idea that lying down would actually help solve anagrams more quickly.”

Dr Lipnicki asked 20 healthy subjects to solve anagrams in both a lying down and standing posture. There were 32 five-letter anagrams, such as “osien” (noise) and “nodru” (round).

For each subject the anagrams were randomly selected into two 16-item blocks, one block for lying down and the other for standing up. Half of the subjects did the task in the order of lying down, then standing up, while the other half did the task first when standing and then when lying down. The average time for solving an anagram lying down was 26.3 seconds, while standing up the average was nearly 30 seconds.

Pick an object and break it into parts. (So a flower becomes stick, leaves, and petals.) It’s called the “generic-parts technique” and people trained to think this way were better at solving problems through creative insight than people who weren’t given the training.


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rethinking-labels-boosts-creativi...

To become more inventive, new research suggests, we should start thinking about common items in terms of their component parts, decoupling their names from their uses.

When we think of an object—a candle, say—we tend to think of its name, appearance and purpose all at once. We have expectations about how the candle works and what we can do with it. Psychologists call this rigid thinking “functional fixedness.”

Tony McCaffrey, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, developed a two-step “generic parts technique,” which trains people to overcome functional fixedness. First, break down the items at hand into their basic parts, then name each part in a way that does not imply meaning. Using his technique, a candle becomes wax and string. Seeing the wick as a string is key: calling it a “wick” implies that its use is to be lit, but calling it a “string” opens up new possibilities.

Moving the eyes back and forth facilitates interaction between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which may boost creative thinking .

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/boost-your-creativity-wit...

Sixty-two subjects performed a creativity task, where they had to come up with as many alternate uses for common objects like, a paper clip, pencil, shoe, etc. as they could in one minute.

After this initial task researchers asked subjects to move their eyes to follow a target as it moved horizontally left to right for 30 seconds. This exercise is thought to increase the cross-talk between the hemispheres.

Then the subjects completed the creative task again. Results were surprising. Subjects came up with significantly more unique uses for the everyday items, than the control group who stared straight ahead.

So when brainstorming ideas for that new Thanksgiving dish or the name of your unborn son, maybe try bilateral eye movement which, in the words of science, increases your inter-hemispheric interaction, and in turn increases your options

Those ten fingers are the tools for expressing our mind and interacting with others. That’s why the Barrons say making something by hand can be a huge creativity boost. Producing something by hand also means getting information from multiple senses at once, which can stimulate creative thinking. Try cooking, knitting, or a DIY home decorating project—wall art, here we come


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/work/DIY-projec...


http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/25/health/brain-crafting-benefits/


euroscientists are beginning to see how studies on cognitive activities such as doing crossword puzzles might also apply to someone who does complex quilting patterns. Others are drawing connections between the mental health benefits of meditation and the zen reached while painting or sculpting.

"There's promising evidence coming out to support what a lot of crafters have known anecdotally for quite some time," says Catherine Carey Levisay, a clinical neuropsychologist and wife of Craftsy.com CEO John Levisay. "And that's that creating -- whether it be through art, music, cooking, quilting, sewing, drawing, photography (or) cake decorating -- is beneficial to us in a number of important ways."

Doing things out of habit tends to undermine creative thought; on the other hand, novelty-seeking is associated with creativity (and overall well-being). Even something as simple as taking a new route to work or experimenting with a cool recipe counts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/21660191

If you want to come up with innovative solutions to a problem which is bothering you, then doing something as simple as changing aspects of your daily routine could lead to a creative insight.

Psychologist Dr Simone Ritter from Radboud University Nijmegen has found that even just changing the way you make your usual sandwich can help boost levels of creativity.

She says people should seek out unexpected experiences if they wish to think differently and so approach problems with a fresh perspective.

Altering your daily routines can result in changes happening in your brain.

Well-travelled neural pathways are abandoned and new connections made between brain cells. This can then lead to new and original ideas.

In one study, people were most creative with a moderate level of noise in the background. The noise around us is slightly distracting, so it encourages us to think a little harder and more imaginatively. (Of course, some people might need quieter or louder noise to produce their best work.)

http://www.fastcompany.com/3005011/why-you-should-work-coffee-shop-even-whe...


Fewer distractions. It sounds counter-intuitive, but working from a bustling coffee shop can be less distracting than working from a quiet office. Being surrounded by awesome team- and officemates means being interrupted for water cooler chats and work questions. Being interrupted kills productivity. The coffee shop environment combines the benefit of anonymity with the dull buzz of exciting activity. Unlike working at home, with the ever-present black hole of solitude and procrastination, a coffee shop provides the opportunity of human interaction, on your terms.

http://www.iteaconnect.org/Conference/PATT/PATT26/Lin.pdf


In other words, the
performance of student product design improvement concepts was affected by differences in the experiment processes. The average adjusted post-test score for the control group (Science
Fiction) was 12.88 points (standard deviation of 0.38), while the average adjusted post-test score for the experimental group (science-fiction films) was 14.50 points (standard deviation of 0.36). This illustrates that the use of science fiction films was more effective in stimulating student imagination and increasing the quality of product design improvement concepts in
middle school students.

Here’s one excuse to sit in front of the computer all day: Video games that energize players and encourage a positive mood (Wii Tennis, not Mortal Combat) can also promote creativity by boosting our problem-solving skills.

https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/article/viewFile/9080...

http://www.cnet.com/news/new-study-links-video-gaming-to-creativity/


The research out of Michigan State University, published online in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, suggests that of the 491 12-year-olds studied, the ones who play video games tend to be more creative, regardless of whether those games are violent--and that the more they play, the more creative they are.

Head researcher and psychology professor Linda Jackson says these findings should encourage game designers to investigate which aspects of gaming are more responsible for this creative effect.

Milk, spinach, salmon, whole grain pasta, tofu and sunflower seeds are all proven to make you feel happier and more creative.

Try this game: Open the dictionary to a random word and write down everything it makes you think of. Perhaps surprisingly, freedom can actually inhibit creativity; a little restriction (like focusing on one word instead all kajillion of them) lets us think more freely.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-roitman/your-mind-on-language-how_b_39021...

Bilinguals, for example, have denser gray matter in their language centers than monolinguals. Bilinguals can more easily focus on two tasks at once. They think more analytically. Parts of their brain devoted to memory, reasoning, and planning are larger than those of monolinguals.

Learning a second language is like a workout for your mind. The benefits of bilingualism, from increased creativity to the delayed onset of Alzheimer's, should encourage everyone to pick up a second - or third! - language.