Can Ambient Noise Increase Creativity?

via Turn Up the Volume to Boost Your Brain’s Creative Power | The Stir.

You know how we’re supposed to need “peace and quiet” to be able to concentrate? Maybe that’s true if the task at hand is paying bills or something else similarly straightforward, but according to a new study, “moderate ambient noise” is more likely to trigger “creative, innovative and abstract” thoughts than silence. So what qualifies as moderate ambient noise?

Think Starbucks on an average afternoon — busy but not packed, buzzing but not booming. Because when that moderate noise gets to the not-so-moderate level, that creative thought thing goes right out the window. Much like a recent not-so-average afternoon I spent on my laptop at a Starbucks where the very enthusiastic young barista pumped the music up really loud and sang along really really loud to each and every song.