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How to stimulate the brain for creativity and mental performance - start fiddling



Playing with objects – i.e. fiddling – may help to stimulate the brain for creativity and productivity. Specific hand movements may have an impact on cognitive thought, thereby improving thinking and accelerating learning. This type of research is called “embodied cognition” – i.e. how physical movement and the environment may help shape cognitive functioning. These specific hand movements may include fiddling, fidgeting, doodling, and writing. And fiddling may lead to creativity.

Researchers at Princeton University and the University of California in Los Angeles conducted three studies of 327 students and found that taking notes in long hand (rather than on a laptop computer) enabled students to process the information that they were writing more deeply. The students also gave better answers to conceptual questions. Hence the act of handwriting the information that is heard or seen onto paper helps it to be retained longer in the brain and therefore remembered for a longer period afterwards. This form of embodied cognition has been found to improve creativity and memory.

A 2011 study of 22 people found that counting on one’s fingers helps to improve performanace on mental arithmetic problems – for adults as well as children. Also, people who played with blocks and puzzles performed better on spatial reasoning tests, due to the hand manipulation of the items, indicated a study of 847 students.

Researchers at New York University’s Polytechnic School of Engineering studied 40 people using various gadgets – such as Slinkys, adhesive putty, and ballpoint pens – to see if fiddling with them helped them to focus, ease their anxiety, and kick-start creativity (fidgetwidgets.tumblr.com). Fidgeting or fiddling may also be a coping mechanism for restless energy, thus stimulating the brain so that the person can focus on mundane tasks. The NYU researchers have found, to date, that study participants indicated that they gained practical benefits from manipulating objects in their hands – this might be clicking pens, stretching elastic bands, twirling pencils, flipping objects, squeezing stress balls, stroking items, or fiddling with stationery items or everyday objects. Anything that is is “squishy or poky or springy” seems to relieve anxiety while activating the creative processes of the brain, says the researchers.


Hence researchers believe that specific hand movements, such as fidgeting or fiddling, can lead to creativity and improved mental performance.




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