Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: thedoc on 04/04/2012 19:38:41
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A small dose of electrical current passed across their heads enabled a group of volunteers to immediately solve a puzzle they had previously judged impossible.
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That is a most interesting puzzle... often termed "think outside of the box".
So, rather than stimulating creative thinking, the electrical signals might be disrupting the "inside the box" thinking.
Sometimes to solve a puzzle like that, one needs to just step back and relax a bit, and let one's creative mojo flow. I know that it is not uncommon to be stumped by a problem... then go to lunch, and have the solution just pop into one's mind. So rather than increasing intelligence, it may be facilitating the flow of creative mojo.
In fact, it may also be important to present the puzzle for 10 minutes prior to zapping the patients. Had they zapped the patients first, then presented the puzzle, they may not have seen such a significant performance increase.