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Disorientation
JimW
Registered Users Posts: 333 Major grins
Disorientation begets creativity.
According to an article in the NY Times on Oct 6 called “How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect”, a recent study has shown that disorientation breeds creativity, or at least it might.
The doctors had a bunch of college students read an absurd short story based on The Country Doctor, by Franz Kafka. The story is urgent, vivid and nonsensical – Kafkaesque. After the story, the students studied a series of 45 strings of letters, like XRXMVT. They later took a test on the letter strings, choosing those they thought they had seen before from a list of 60 such strings. In fact the letters were related, in a very subtle way, with some more likely to appear before or after the others.
“The test is a standard measure of what researchers call implicit learning, knowledge gained without awareness. The students had no idea what patterns their brain was sensing or how well they were performing.”
“But perform they did. They chose about 30% more of the letter strings, and were almost twice as accurate in their choices, than a comparison group of students who had read a different story, a coherent one.”
“The brain evolved to predict, and it does so by identifying patterns. When those patterns break down – as when a hiker stumbles across an easy chair sitting deep in the woods, as if dropped from the sky – the brain gropes for something, anything that makes sense. It may retreat to a familiar ritual, like checking equipment. But it also may turn its attention outward, the researchers argue, and notice, say, a pattern in animal tracks that was previously hidden. The urge to find a coherent pattern makes it more likely that the brain will find one.”
The new research supports what many experimental artists, habitual travelers and other novel seekers have always insisted; at least some of the time, disorientation begets creative thinking.
So, before your next photo shoot, listen to a John Cage record, or watch a short film by David Lynch, or study an odd piece of artwork. It just might generate some creative insight.
Let’s go get disoriented!
Any thoughts?
According to an article in the NY Times on Oct 6 called “How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect”, a recent study has shown that disorientation breeds creativity, or at least it might.
The doctors had a bunch of college students read an absurd short story based on The Country Doctor, by Franz Kafka. The story is urgent, vivid and nonsensical – Kafkaesque. After the story, the students studied a series of 45 strings of letters, like XRXMVT. They later took a test on the letter strings, choosing those they thought they had seen before from a list of 60 such strings. In fact the letters were related, in a very subtle way, with some more likely to appear before or after the others.
“The test is a standard measure of what researchers call implicit learning, knowledge gained without awareness. The students had no idea what patterns their brain was sensing or how well they were performing.”
“But perform they did. They chose about 30% more of the letter strings, and were almost twice as accurate in their choices, than a comparison group of students who had read a different story, a coherent one.”
“The brain evolved to predict, and it does so by identifying patterns. When those patterns break down – as when a hiker stumbles across an easy chair sitting deep in the woods, as if dropped from the sky – the brain gropes for something, anything that makes sense. It may retreat to a familiar ritual, like checking equipment. But it also may turn its attention outward, the researchers argue, and notice, say, a pattern in animal tracks that was previously hidden. The urge to find a coherent pattern makes it more likely that the brain will find one.”
The new research supports what many experimental artists, habitual travelers and other novel seekers have always insisted; at least some of the time, disorientation begets creative thinking.
So, before your next photo shoot, listen to a John Cage record, or watch a short film by David Lynch, or study an odd piece of artwork. It just might generate some creative insight.
Let’s go get disoriented!
Any thoughts?
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
http://www.jimwhitakerphotography.com/
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