This link has been bookmarked by 12 people . It was first bookmarked on 22 May 2008, by Caramel Crow.
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18 Jul 10
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The unconscious brain is full of potential distractions
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However, the same thoughts that can be such annoying interruptions are also the engine of creativity, since they allow us to come up with new connections between previously unrelated ideas
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"It may be that distractibility is not, in fact, a bad thing,"
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"It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind."
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07 Jun 10
thinkahol *In this case, the tradeoff involves creativity. Some of my friends who relied on crushed Ritalin during college used to joke about how the drugs were great for late-night cramming sessions, but that they seemed to suppress any kind of originality. In other words, increased focus came at the expense of the imagination. It makes perfect sense that such a cognitive trade-off would exist. Paying attention to a particular task - like writing an article - requires the brain to ignore all sorts of seemingly unrelated thoughts and stimuli bubbling up from below. (The unconscious brain is full of potential distractions.) However, the same thoughts that can be such annoying interruptions are also the engine of creativity, since they allow us to come up with new connections between previously unrelated ideas. (This might be why schizotypal subjects score higher on tests of creativity. They are less able to ignore those distracting thoughts, which largely arise from the right hemisphere.) Other scientists have looked at the aging brain which, because the prefrontal cortex degrades with time, becomes less able to focus:
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26 Nov 09
Thomas JamesHowever, the same thoughts that can be such annoying interruptions are also the engine of creativity, since they allow us to come up with new connections between previously unrelated ideas. (This might be why schizotypal subjects score higher on tests of
nootropics brain drugs health creativity psychology provigil modafinil intelligence memory humanaugmentation JohannHari transhumanism
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07 Jun 08
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If only intelligence were so easy. Before you run out a get an illicit supply of Provigil, let me remind you that the brain is a precisely equilibrated machine. Even drugs that don't appear to have any negative side-effects - who wouldn't want a more focused brain? - can actually have deleterious consequences.
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04 Jun 08
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22 May 08
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