Mind - Boredom May Let the Brain Recast the World in Productive, Creative Ways... - The Diigo Meta page

• 09 Jul 12
  

  Choo Wan Yee
  • research suggests that falling into a numbed trance allows the brain to recast the outside world in ways that can be productive and creative at least as often as they are disruptive.
• 27 Sep 11
  

  suze sal
  • people tune things out for good reasons
  • learning and creativity
  • the brain has concluded there is nothing new or useful it can learn from an environment
  • a person, an event, a paragraph
  • “When the external and internal conditions are right, boredom offers a person the opportunity for a constructive response,” Dr. Belton,
  • Some evidence for this can be seen in semiconscious behaviors, like doodling during a dull class, braiding strands of hair, folding notebook paper into odd shapes. Daydreaming too can be a kind of constructive self-entertainment, psychologists say, especially if the mind is turning over a problem
  • In experiments in the 1970s, psychiatrists showed that participants completing word-association tasks quickly tired of the job once obvious answers were given; granted more time, they began trying much more creative solutions, as if the boredom “had the power to exert pressure on individuals to stretch their inventive capacity,” Dr. Belton said.

  5 more annotations...

• 15 Aug 08
  

  health

• 06 Aug 08
  

  Melonie Fullick

  Oh, I hope so. Actually I know this is true, and it's the reason I watch TV and surf the internet when I can't concentrate on whatever I'm supposed to be doing. Maybe procrastination has a real cognitive function after all-?

  science psychology productivity learning creativity brain

• 

  boredom brain neuro learning creativity obesity addiction depression

  • Much of the research on the topic has focused on the bad company it tends to keep, from depression and overeating to smoking and drug use.

    Yet boredom is more than a mere flagging of interest or a precursor to mischief. Some experts say that people tune things out for good reasons, and that over time boredom becomes a tool for sorting information — an increasingly sensitive spam filter. In various fields including neuroscience and education, research suggests that falling into a numbed trance allows the brain to recast the outside world in ways that can be productive and creative at least as often as they are disruptive.
  • as if the boredom “had the power to exert pressure on individuals to stretch their inventive capacity,”
• 

  Shannon Holman

  Some experts say that people tune things out for good reasons, and that over time boredom becomes a tool for sorting information — an increasingly sensitive spam filter.

  science psychology productivity mind

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.