Dim light enhances your creativity

Main Point:

Researchers have found that dim light could enhance our creativity as the dark surrounding broadens our thinking and encourages innovation.

Published in:

Journal of Environmental Psychology

Study Further:

This study would help you to understand why in a hotel with dim light you feel enhanced ability of mind wandering.

In the present study, researchers exposed different groups of German undergraduates to different amount of light. Some groups received only 150 lux (representing dim light), others 500 lux (representing the recommended lighting level for an office), and still others 1,500 lux (representing bright light).

After exposing the different groups to the different amounts of light, researchers gave the groups “four creative insight problems typically used in creativity research. These tasks require that individuals change their perceptions of a given problem in order to find the optimal solution.”

Researchers found that the groups that spent more time in dim light solved significantly more problems than the other groups.

“These results indicate that dim illumination heightens perceived freedom from constraints, which in turn improves creative performance,” the researchers conclude.

Source:

Pacific Standard

Reference:

Steidle, A., & Werth, L. (2013). Freedom from constraints: Darkness and dim illumination promote creativity Journal of Environmental Psychology, 35, 67-80 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.05.003