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Are Couch Potatoes More Creative?
ABC Science Online ^ | May 10, 2005 | Judy Skatssoon

Posted on 05/10/2005 6:18:02 PM PDT by kingattax

We're smarter and more creative lying down than standing up, says a researcher who believes this helps to explain Archimedes' eureka moment.

Darren Lipnicki from the school of psychology at the Australian National University (ANU) found that people solve anagrams more quickly when they are on their backs than on their feet.

He said his research, which will be published in the journal Cognitive Brain Research, relates to how neurotransmitters are released.

Lipnicki tested 20 people, who were asked to solve 32 five-letter anagrams, such as 'osien' and 'nodru' while standing and lying down.

"I found anagrams were solved more quickly lying down than standing up," he said.

"[Often] the solution just pops into the mind similar to the 'aha' or 'eureka' experience associated with large-scale creative breakthroughs.

"In that sense anagrams replicate that experience because it's easier to solve them, or solve them more rapidly, lying down. That suggests that creative thinking might also be facilitated when lying down."

Lipnicki said his finding relates to the difference in brain chemistry, specifically the release of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline, when lying down or standing up.

While noradrenaline is normally associated with cognitive ability and attention, it is also believed to impair creative thinking.

And less is released while lying down.

Archimedes and Reclining Poets

Lipnicki said there is historical evidence for his finding in the case of the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who worked out while lying in his bath that the amount of water that overflowed his tub was proportional to the amount of his body that was submerged.

The observation became known as Archimedes' principle, or the principle that an object immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant force equal in magnitude to the force of gravity on the displaced fluid.

Professor of medieval history Donnchadh O'Corrain of University College Cork said medieval Irish poets also composed their complicated court poetry while lying flat on a couch in a darkened room.

And there are descriptions dating back to 1571 of how law students studied by lying on flat straw pallets, he said


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: archimedes; brain; couchpotato; godsgravesglyphs; psychology; reclining

1 posted on 05/10/2005 6:18:03 PM PDT by kingattax
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To: kingattax
I could say something about my ex-girlfriend being more creative on her back than when she was on her feet, but that would be wrong.

TS

2 posted on 05/10/2005 6:28:58 PM PDT by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
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To: kingattax
boring...nope...lame...boring...stupid...lame....
3 posted on 05/10/2005 6:32:13 PM PDT by scott says
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To: kingattax

Are Couch Potatoes More Creative?





only at ricocheting farts off the naugahyde


4 posted on 05/10/2005 6:33:44 PM PDT by sure_fine (*not one to over kill the thought process*)
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To: Tanniker Smith

yeah....that might violate the "Ex-Girlfriend Decency and Non-Slander" Act


5 posted on 05/10/2005 6:34:19 PM PDT by kingattax
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To: scott says

check that waistline...lol


6 posted on 05/10/2005 6:35:08 PM PDT by kingattax
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To: Petronski

ping


7 posted on 05/10/2005 6:35:49 PM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: Tanniker Smith
Genius
8 posted on 05/10/2005 6:44:27 PM PDT by scott says
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To: kingattax

Makes sense to me. It's easier to think things over than it is to think things up.


9 posted on 05/10/2005 6:49:49 PM PDT by Nick Danger (Honey, Intel wants to go outside)
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To: kingattax

I write a syndicated comedy service for radio DJs, and I do all my humor writing while leaning back in an old recliner at my desk. My wife is always wanting to "spruce up" my home office by getting me a nice, new, upright executive office chair. I tell her that if she likes the jokes to be funny enough for people to keep paying for them, she'd better keep her cotton-pickin' hands off my recliner.


10 posted on 05/10/2005 7:14:01 PM PDT by HHFi
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To: kingattax
I'll get back to yo on this...

11 posted on 05/10/2005 7:29:21 PM PDT by Khurkris (This tag-line is available on CD ROM. NRA.)
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To: kingattax
go team!...go team!...
12 posted on 05/10/2005 7:37:37 PM PDT by scott says
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To: kingattax

Not me - I think best on my feet. If I'm on the phone, I have to pace the whole house and the yard.


13 posted on 05/10/2005 7:46:19 PM PDT by FierceDraka (The Democratic Party - Aiding and Abetting The Enemies of America Since 1968)
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To: Tanniker Smith
I could say something about my ex-girlfriend being more creative on her back than when she was on her feet, but that would be wrong.

Something similar went through my melon, too. LOL

14 posted on 05/10/2005 7:47:58 PM PDT by FierceDraka (The Democratic Party - Aiding and Abetting The Enemies of America Since 1968)
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To: Khurkris

I looked up this thread just to find some good graphics. Thanks. I saved Homer and La Vida Sofa.


15 posted on 05/10/2005 8:01:31 PM PDT by sine_nomine (Protect the weakest of the weak - the unborn babies.)
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To: sine_nomine

Much welcome...I stole it from someone else!


16 posted on 05/11/2005 12:11:06 AM PDT by Khurkris (This tag-line is available on CD ROM. NRA.)
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17 posted on 08/04/2008 10:04:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
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