Listening To 'Happy' Music May Boost Creativity, study Says

靈感枯竭？聽會兒音樂吧

Most people know intuitively that music can be a good way to pump yourself up or get the creative juices flowing — and a new study brings some scientific evidence to the connection.

大多數人都直覺性地認為音樂可以使人精神振奮，也能使人文思如泉涌。而最近的一項研究也證明了二者間的聯系。

It finds that people asked to listen to positive-sounding music had a measurable boost in creativity compared with people listening to other types of music.

該研究發現，同那些聽其它類型歌曲的人相比，聽快節奏歌曲的人的創造力有明顯的提升。

The phenomenon might be a good one to keep in mind when you’re feeling blocked or in a creative cul-de-sac.

因此，當你靈感枯竭或走入死胡同時，不妨試著聽一些歡快的音樂。

To test the role music may play, they had participants come into the lab and listen to one of four types of music.

為了檢驗音樂在激發創造性中的作用，實驗人員讓被試者進入實驗室聽四種不同的音樂。

The music had either a positive or negative valence, and was either high or low in arousal.

這些音樂有積極的有消極的，有令人振奮的也有令人萎靡的。

The participants heard their respective selections and then took tests to gauge their creativity, or divergent thinking—the ability to generate novel ideas and conjure up multiple solutions to a problem.

被試者要求在分別欣賞不同類型的音樂后進行創造力測試或稱分化性思維測試，測試他們產生新想法的能力，以及面對問題是否能提出多種解決辦法。

People who listened to happy music scored higher on the tests for divergent thinking, but not on convergent thinking. People listening to other types of music didn’t show the same difference.

那些聽歡快歌曲的人在測試分化思想時得分很高，但在聚合思想測試中則無突出表現。聽其他音樂的人則沒有表現出上述特征。

The results aren’t entirely surprising, but why would the connection between happy, upbeat music and creativity exist, neurologically? The authors suggest that the music might affect flexibility of thought: One model of creativity, for instance, suggests that creativity comes from two traits—persistence and flexibility. And, they write, “situational variables can influence creativity either through their effects on persistence, on flexibility, or on both.”

這個結果并不出乎人們意料，但是快樂，快節奏的音樂以及創造性，這三者在神經學上怎么會產生聯系呢？筆者認為音樂可以激發思維的靈活性，而有模型表明，創造力有兩個來源：一個是持續性，另一個便是靈活性。

Listening To 'Happy' Music May Boost Creativity, study Says

靈感枯竭？聽會兒音樂吧

Most people know intuitively that music can be a good way to pump yourself up or get the creative juices flowing — and a new study brings some scientific evidence to the connection.

大多數人都直覺性地認為音樂可以使人精神振奮，也能使人文思如泉涌。而最近的一項研究也證明了二者間的聯系。

It finds that people asked to listen to positive-sounding music had a measurable boost in creativity compared with people listening to other types of music.

該研究發現，同那些聽其它類型歌曲的人相比，聽快節奏歌曲的人的創造力有明顯的提升。

The phenomenon might be a good one to keep in mind when you’re feeling blocked or in a creative cul-de-sac.

因此，當你靈感枯竭或走入死胡同時，不妨試著聽一些歡快的音樂。

To test the role music may play, they had participants come into the lab and listen to one of four types of music.

為了檢驗音樂在激發創造性中的作用，實驗人員讓被試者進入實驗室聽四種不同的音樂。

The music had either a positive or negative valence, and was either high or low in arousal.

這些音樂有積極的有消極的，有令人振奮的也有令人萎靡的。

The participants heard their respective selections and then took tests to gauge their creativity, or divergent thinking—the ability to generate novel ideas and conjure up multiple solutions to a problem.

被試者要求在分別欣賞不同類型的音樂后進行創造力測試或稱分化性思維測試，測試他們產生新想法的能力，以及面對問題是否能提出多種解決辦法。

People who listened to happy music scored higher on the tests for divergent thinking, but not on convergent thinking. People listening to other types of music didn’t show the same difference.

那些聽歡快歌曲的人在測試分化思想時得分很高，但在聚合思想測試中則無突出表現。聽其他音樂的人則沒有表現出上述特征。

The results aren’t entirely surprising, but why would the connection between happy, upbeat music and creativity exist, neurologically? The authors suggest that the music might affect flexibility of thought: One model of creativity, for instance, suggests that creativity comes from two traits—persistence and flexibility. And, they write, “situational variables can influence creativity either through their effects on persistence, on flexibility, or on both.”

這個結果并不出乎人們意料，但是快樂，快節奏的音樂以及創造性，這三者在神經學上怎么會產生聯系呢？筆者認為音樂可以激發思維的靈活性，而有模型表明，創造力有兩個來源：一個是持續性，另一個便是靈活性。