It has often been assumed by popular culture that alcohol provides a benefit to the creative process . Our favorite poets , artists and other creative types often seem to find their muse in a bottle . Recent research done by the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois set out to measure the impact of alcohol on creativity ( the actual experiment used vodka and cranberry juice calibrated to the weight of the participants ). The cognitive processes that were reviewed related to the use of working memory capacity and ability to control attention versus remote association . Creative problem solving , as opposed to analytical problem solving , does not involve computational algorithms or incremental analytic procedures . Instead , it tends to be characterized by more divergent , associational or discontinuous solution process .
To test the hypothesis , the study examined the effects of moderate alcohol intoxication (. 07 BAC ) on a creative problem solving task , as well as sober comparison condition . They also asked participants to assess their perception of ‘ insightfulness ’ – that is , whether they felt the solution came suddenly to mind ( an Aha ! Moment ) or if they felt they reached the solution through step-by-step , analytic process . The prediction was that less attentional focus , in this case caused by moderate alcohol consumption , would in fact be beneficial to the creative process . The results supported this prediction , as those participants that had consumed the vodka-cranberry cocktail had higher performance measures on the Remote Associates Tests compared to sober participants . “ Additionally , participants in the intoxicated condition perceived their problem solving to be less analytic and more intuitive than the sober controls ,” notes the author of the research .
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Creative problem solving tends to be characterized by more divergent , associational or discontinuous solution process .
The study also reports though , “ that these changes were accompanied by decreased performance on measures of working memory capacity ( WMC ) as compared to sober controls .” So for tasks that require focus and analysis , alcohol ( even in moderate amounts ) is not the way to go .
This is where coffee comes in . “ Caffeine prevents our focus from becoming too diffuse ; it instead hones our attention in a hyper-vigilant fashion ” says Maria Konnikova who holds a PhD in Psychology from Columbia University and is author of Mastermind : How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes . Similar findings in terms of enhancing working memory have been found from green tea by research from the University of Basel .
As far as stimulating innovation in organizations , we do have to keep in mind that a BAC of . 07 is very close , and in some cases , the legal limits for driving home after that idea session at the office . And , that new , hip espresso machine in your workplace may actually hinder the kind of mind-wandering one needs for creative and imaginative insights .
The innovation process involves both the ability to create novel associations and to implement them . What would be helpful is to develop a sense of self-awareness or meta-cognition as well as to learn techniques that could prime our mind and our team mates for these types of activities .
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Caffeine prevents our focus from becoming too diffuse ; it instead hones our attention .
We could all benefit from knowing when and how to let our minds diverge and be less focused , when we need to focus more to get it finished , and when it might be better to work alone or to collaborate with others .
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