How play can make you more innovative and productive at work
At first glance, the MIT programmers may have looked like just a bunch of gamers goofing off, as they fired spaceship torpedoes in a video game they built. (more…)
Tag Archives: creativity
Hour of Code: When creativity and logic spark that ‘aha’ moment for young people
Allan La Grenade-Finch remembers the moment an 8th grader, a “great kid” who often sat in the back of class and struggled with science, “lit up” during last year’s Hour of Code at Cardozo Education Campus in Washington, D.C. (more…)
Your brain on speed: Walking doesn’t impair thinking and multitasking
ANN ARBOR — When we’re strolling down memory lane, our brains recall just as much information while walking as while standing still—findings that contradict the popular science notion that walking hinders one’s ability to think.
University of Michigan researchers at the School of Kinesiology and the College of Engineering examined how well study participants performed a very complex spatial cognitive task while walking versus standing still. (more…)
Smartphone as mentor: How tech could change behavior
ANN ARBOR — Funneling a steady stream of diversions straight to your pocket, smartphones are often cast as the ultimate distractors. But a University of Michigan engineering professor sees potential for them to be something quite the opposite.
What if they could act as mentors in mindfulness, helping users stay attentive in order to achieve particular goals? (more…)
“Self-Distancing” Can Help People Calm Aggressive Reactions, Study Finds
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study reveals a simple strategy that people can use to minimize how angry and aggressive they get when they are provoked by others.
When someone makes you angry, try to pretend you’re viewing the scene at a distance – in other words, you are an observer rather than a participant in this stressful situation. Then, from that distanced perspective, try to understand your feelings.
Researchers call this strategy “self-distancing.” (more…)
Sewing the Inner, Creative Mind
*UA alumnus Paul Nosa travels with his solar powered sewing machine, stitching patches of the thoughts people choose to share with him.*
Paul Nosa is a perfectionist – well, a reformed perfectionist.
A musician and formally trained artist who studied sculpture at the University of Arizona, Nosa is accustomed to art that is organized and linear.
But his current work stands in stark opposition. (more…)