Study: Modest alcohol intake makes people more creative (BOY HOWDY!)
A new study has found that a modest amount of alcohol can tend to make people more creative, facilitating problem solving and other mental tasks by reducing the person’s attention span, which helps the brain make associations that may not be obvious to the sober.
The findings were published late last month by the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences, but it did not make national headlines until Wednesday.
Researchers at the University of Illinois found that at a 0.07 blood alcohol level, most people’s performance in memory-related tasks falters, but their ability to complete creative tasks increases. A 0.07 blood alcohol level is just slightly under the level most states use to define whether a person is legally “drunk” or not. While the number of drinks required to reach 0.07 blood alcohol varies from person to person, the average man will reach that level after four drinks in 1-2 hours, whereas the average woman will reach that level after three drinks in the same period of time.
Cognitive psychologist Jennifer Wiley, who led the study, said that it works by reducing a person’s overall “working memory capacity,” which controls attention span. Reducing the amount of information one can hold in working memory seems to increase creative problem-solving ability, but reduce the ability to analytically focus on a single subject.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/12/study-modest-alcohol-intake-makes-people-more-creative/
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