Beer Makes You More Creative!

beer, Beer Makes You More Creative!A recently released study from researchers at Austria’s University of Graz may help explain why writers like Ernest Hemingway were such heavy drinkers…

Their research shows that drinking a beer might loosen the brain’s controlling instincts and free up the mind to process things more spontaneously.

So a pint of beer = For Whom the Bells Toll?

Well yes and no…Here’s what they did.

The researchers invited 70 people to drink either a 5% lager or non-alcohol beer, which they were supposedly unable to distinguish between. (We do have to question a panel that can’t discern between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer…but whatever).

And then they asked those participants to engage in a word association task, such as determining the word linking the three words Swiss, blue and cake.

The correct answer is ‘cheese’ and researchers found that those who had consumed alcohol before being tested were more likely to get it right.

Dr. Benedek, the study’s lead author, explained that they’ve two theories about the results…

“The first being that when you are really focusing on solving a problem, you can become fixated so that your mind gets stuck on one way of addressing it. Alcohol makes it more difficult to keep all the parameters of the task in mind, but that can also help you come at it from another direction.

“The second theory is that alcohol, which is distracting from the central task, allows you to tap into your unconscious mind and find alternative solutions.”

But there is an unfortunate addendum to this enlightening beer study… (isn’t there always?).

It turns out that moderate drinking is key to this burst of creativity and those creative juices fell precipitously for those who consumed more than one pint of beer.

The research was published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition

Turning Beers Into Ideas image credit: The Half and Half

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